By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
After the final buzzer of the Belgrade derby in the ABA League, which Partizan Mozzart Bet won, Mathias Lessort heavily pushed Filip Petrusev, and Crvena Zvezda is asking the League for the highest possible penalty for the French big man.
The case is also in the hands of the Serbian police, who called Petrusev to testify about the incident, and Crvena Zvezda‘s player already gave his official statements in the city’s Ministry of Internal Affairs offices.
In the official announcement, Crvena Zvezda lists the possible punishments for “physical aggression” against their team member.
“Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet would like to take this opportunity to inform the public about the offense committed by Mathias Lessort by attacking the basketball player of Crvena Zvezda Filip Petrusev, according to the ABA League’s disciplinary rules so that there are no misinterpretations and interpretations of the severity of the offenses that appeared in public in the past two days.
During the attack, Mathias Lessort hit on the head of our senior team player and Serbian national team member Filip Petrusev twice with his fist after the end of the match of the 21st round of the regional League.
For this type of offense, the prescribed penalties are as follows:
Article 26 Types of violations:
26.1 The following violations are considered serious violations:
a) Physical aggression against official staff members, another individual, the public, or any person in general…
Article 27 Sanctions
27.1 Special sanctions of severe violations:
The serious offenses listed above are punishable by the following sanctions:
a) Fine in the amount of EUR 3,001.00 to EUR 50,000.00
b) Permanent or temporary ban on access to the halls for a period of three to fifteen (3-15) matches;
c) Permanent or temporary disqualification from the competition for a period of three to fifteen (3-15) games;
We are publicly asking, will the disciplinary judge of the ABA League Hrvoje Vidan have the courage to impose the highest prescribed penalty for the most severe possible offense?.”
Previously, Partizan’s head coach Zeljko Obradovic apologized to Filip Petrusev, Lessort issued a public statement saying he didn’t attack the Serbian center but reacted, which triggered another statement of Crvena Zvezda, in which was declared that the club is shocked by French center’s lies.
Crvena Zvezda demands an investigation for Partizan – Split game
In the same official statement, Crvena Zvezda asked the ABA League sports director Milija Vojinovic to investigate the Round 20 match between Partizan and Split, as reportedly one Partizan player stayed on the court with five personal fouls.
“Finally, so that the ABA league does not definitively slip into irregularity, powerlessness, and arbitrariness of individuals, in which insults, threats, blackmail, and the application of regulations (but only for some clubs) are allowed, we demand from the sports director of the ABA league, Milije Vojinović, to conduct an urgent investigation into the match of the 20th round of the ABA league, which was played in Split, and which ended with a player with five personal fouls playing (and directly influencing) the end of that match. In the case of this, the most serious mistake, that is, a material violation of the rules, there is a known procedure, and Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet demands that it be respected and that a decision be made according to the league rules!
If this does not happen, we will consider this league as definitely irregular because, after everything mentioned above, this would be an unprecedented league in Europe, where this is also possible.
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet, as co-owner of the league (which many forget), will fight for its legitimacy and credibility because only in this way can the ABA league preserve a minimum of its dignity and competitive influence. For pre-directed performances, there are numerous theaters throughout the area where the ABA league is played, and we believe that the charm of the sport lies precisely in the fact that teams like Cibona (Crvena Zvezda did not have any complaints after the fairly lost game in Zagreb), Split, Zadar or any one of the other – they have a chance and can beat anyone. Some don’t think so. But that won’t work…,” as stated by the ABA League champions, Crvena Zvezda.
Photo: ABA League/Dragana Stjepanovic; Screenshot