Trabzonspor president Ibrahim Ethem Haciosmanoglu has been slapped with a 280-day ban for his role in locking a referee and his assistants in a room following last Wednesday's controversial Turkish league draw with Gaziantepspor.
Related: Turkish side Trabzonspor traps officials following controversial non-call
Referee Cagatay Sahan and his colleagues were trapped in their dressing room for hours after Sahan didn't call a late penalty in favour of Trabzonspor, with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling for his release.
"I told stadium security not to let the referees leave until the morning, until I arrived, but a very important person called me and asked me not to cause embarrassment in Turkey and around the world," Haciosmanoglu told Dogan News Agency, courtesy of the Guardian.
He later added in a statement, "Our goal was to protect the referees from the crowd in Trabzon. We also arranged for the referees to leave the city without any problems."
The club will play its next two home matches behind closed doors as part of its punishment from the Turkish Football Federation.
Haciosmanoglu's ban comes with a fine of £34,250, suspending him from any involvement with the club for 280 days.
Club directors Yakup Aslan and Ali Uzunay were handed bans of 410 days, while Koksal Guney, Ali Kemal Basaran, Onur Incehasan, Omer Demir, Seyfettin Tayfun Kahyaoglu, and Mehmet Terzi were each banned for a year. All eight board members were also fined between £45,000-£60,000.
Director Suleyman Hurma was also banned for 21 days and fined £5,700.