Kouya out of court in EPO: He accuses her of false and slanderous communication

An extrajudicial letter to the EPO was sent by Alexis Kougias. Its vice president PAE Olympiacos accuses the federation of a false and slanderous announcement, regarding what the federation published on Thursday regarding his verbal attack on a member of the Disciplinary Committee during his call to apologize for his statements after the Olympiacos-AEK derby.

The out-of-court protest of Alexis Kouya:

“PROTEST – INVITATION – STATEMENT BEFORE ANY COMPETENT COURT AND ANY EXTRAORDINARY AUTHORITY

Alexiou Kougia of Christos, Lawyer (AM DSA: 8846), 5th Vice-President and legal advisor of PAE Olympiacos, resident of Athens, ave. Vasilissis Sofias, no. 55, VAT number 023563014, D.O.Y. Psychiko

TO

The Hellenic Football Federation, a non-profit tertiary association based in Athens, Goudi Park, and legally represented by its President Mr. Panagiotis Baltakos

On 25.01.2024 at 5.57 pm on your official website www.epo.gr you published an unsigned announcement, false and slanderous about me, in which the following are mentioned verbatim:

“Today, the lawyer and vice-president of PAE Olympiacos, Alexis Kougias, caused an incident at the offices of the Federation, at the expense of a member of the Disciplinary Committee of the EPO, with abusive characterizations, such as “you are a member of a criminal organization, you are in service ordered by AEK, etc…” .

The judge in question called the police and left the Federation offices in a patrol car. The case is referred to the Ethics Committee of the EPO.”

But the truth is this:

As you know, on 25.01.2024 I was under disciplinary control before the Disciplinary Committee of the EPO (hereafter PE/EPO) for my statements after the Olympiacos – AEK match on 07.01.2024, which was “tainted” by referees and members of the KED.

To my surprise, half an hour before the meeting of the Committee, I was notified of three decisions of the same Committee for disciplinary violations that I allegedly committed when I was the President of PAS Korinthos, which competes in the 3rd National Division. So while this kind of infringements, when committed, are punishable by deprivation of entry to the playing field and the changing rooms for one to two matches, the PE/EPO imposed on me the unprecedented for Greek data and such kind of infringements a ban on entry to all the stadiums, therefore also in the stadiums where PAE Olympiacos plays, of which I am Vice President and legal advisor, and in fact for a total duration of (1+1+2.5=) 4.5 months, i.e. practically until the end of the current season period.

According to an unprecedented method, in all three cases in which I was convicted, the rapporteur was the First Judge D.D. Mr. Vasilios Zacharopoulos, whom I met for the first time in my life during the trial of these cases and about whom I later learned that he is an ardent fan of AEK and is not absent from any of their home matches.

I felt even more surprised when, entering the room where the PE/EPO meets, I saw in the exact same position the particular Rapporteur, biased in my opinion, and immediately within a few minutes, in consultation with my office colleagues, we drafted and filed with the start of the process, a request to exclude the specific Judge, for which, addressing the president of the Commission who was different from the one who presided over the other cases, I said that I do not want to believe that even today, when football is supposed to have been cleaned up, I have suspicions that there is criminal organization that can even direct Judges to decide the extermination of all those who highlight this dirty background that even today dominates football.

The President immediately adjourned the meeting and after about a quarter of an hour announced to me that they could not decide on the request for exemption because the deputy of the person requesting the exception was not available to form the Committee, and that therefore the Committee will decide later in council and I will be informed about the result and about the new trial with a new call.

I was surprised to see two police patrol cars enter the premises of the EPO when I left, and I never imagined that a false and slanderous announcement by me from the EPO would follow, which falsely stated that I allegedly caused an incident and that I allegedly insulted the person in question Judge, concealing that this never happened and that in fact I submitted a legal right to opt out, which was lawfully received by Madam President without anything happening other than me saying to that particular disciplinary judge the word “shame, shame” just before I left from the hall.

Because I protest the fact that you chose to insult my honor and reputation, but also my professional prestige with your above false and slanderous statement.

Because according to article only par. 5 of Law 1178/1981 “The aggrieved party, before bringing an action for the insult he suffered, is obliged to summon the owner of the publication with a written, extrajudicial invitation, or when he is unknown, the publisher or the its editorial director, to remedy the offense by entering it in the text indicated to him. In this text, the words or phrases that were considered offensive are identified and the reasons why the specific report was offensive must also be withdrawn. The restoration is considered to have occurred if the owner of the form, i.e. the publisher or editorial director thereof, within a period of ten (10) days or, in any case, in the next issue:

a) expressly revoke the offense with the above publication, which is made in the same or, if there is no such publication, in a similar position and page of the corresponding day of circulation of the newspaper, in which the beginning of the reprehensible publication was registered, and in an extent and size corresponding to the latter, and b) notify the aggrieved party of the aforementioned rehabilitation publication. The lapse of an inactive period of ten (10) days or non-publication in the next issue is considered a refusal on the part of the owner or publisher of the form. Omission of the above procedure results in the rejection of the action as inadmissible. The action for compensation in paragraph 2 must be brought within six (6) months from the expiration of the ten (10) day period or the express negative answer, if this has been given earlier, or from the publication of the next issue. If the insult is remedied, according to the above, there can be no civil claim under paragraph 2. Exceptionally, when the reprehensible publication concerned an imminent event of major importance for the individual, family, professional and generally social progress of the wronged and the restoration of the relevant insult followed, the latter can be considered as incomplete and the claim for corresponding monetary satisfaction due to moral damage is maintained. If, despite the publication of the retraction, it has been proven that the wronged party has suffered material damage due to the reprehensible publication, the plaintiff is entitled to appeal to the competent court only for this claim. The adjudication of the lawsuit according to this article is independent of the initiation of criminal prosecution for the same act, as well as the possible postponement or suspension of the criminal procedure that has begun for any reason. The provisions of this paragraph do not apply when exercising the right to redress in the cases provided for in article 9 of the P.D. 100/2000 (A’ 98).”

Because according to settled jurisprudence, the above provisions are applied accordingly to offensive publications on the internet.

BECAUSE OF THIS

And with the express reservation of all my legal rights

I INVITE YOU as of today, 26.01.2024, to delete the above announcement from your website and revoke it by publishing the following revocation text: “We revoke our announcement from 25.01.2024 regarding the Lawyer and Vice-President of PAE Olympiacos Alexios Kougia, because the it is true that he did not cause an incident during the meeting of the Disciplinary Committee of the EPO, nor did he abuse a member of the Committee, but at the beginning of the discussion of a case, in which he was subject to disciplinary action, he submitted a request for exemption against a member of the Committee and after completing his development, the The Committee adjourned the discussion in order to replace the member to be excluded, so that the Committee could decide on the request for exclusion, and then to notify the result and the new trial to Mr. Kouya.”

OTHERWISE I TELL YOU that on Monday 29.01.2024 I will file a summons for my defamation against all fault and in addition I will file a lawsuit in the Civil Courts, requesting monetary satisfaction of 100,000 euros from each of the fault.

Competent bailiff to legally serve this present on the one to whom it is addressed, for her knowledge and for the legal consequences, copying the entire text of this present in his service report.

Athens, 26.01.2024

EXODIKOS DILON”