Former NiP coach Faruk “⁠pita⁠” Pita has revealed that the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has reduced his 10-month ban for using the spectator bug by 45 per cent.

The 30-year-old coach, who was banned in September for using the bug in two ESL Pro League Season 8 Europe matches in 2018, against Astralis and mousesports, said that the decision was reached after an appeal hearing on December 28. His confession was accepted in full and his attempts to report the bug to Valve through Twitter’s Direct Messages were perceived as him having shown assistance in the investigation.

pita has seen his ban reduced by ESIC

“The commissioner said during the hearing that he had sympathy with me because the bug ‘had come’ to me, and that he believed I acted correctly when I decided to stop it and report it to the developers,” pita wrote in a Twitlonger post.

“The reason why I wanted to share this is because, even though I did something terribly wrong, it feels ‘better’ knowing I did at least do something right in all of this. I guess.”

pita, who has not coached a team since leaving NiP in January 2020, said that he wishes to continue his career once his ban expires on March 13. Until then, he will not accept any offer as he wishes to respect ESIC’s suspension.

“I would like to say that I hope by the middle of March the community can accept me again,” he said. “If some of you don’t, I totally understand and respect it.

“I do hope I can come back and coach again. That’s what I love. Trying to help people become better at what they love. I have learned a lot these last seven years as a coach (mostly) and wish to continue learning. I do not want to go to any other game. CS has been my passion since 2001 and it still is.”

pita is the second coach to be successful in an appeal to ESIC since the esports watchdog group released the first set of substantial findings from its investigation into the historical use of the spectator bug, banning 37 people for up to 36 months. In October, Sergey “⁠lmbt⁠” Bezhanov saw his 7.5-month ban lifted by ESIC after he provided evidence in his defence.

Source: https://www.hltv.org/news/30991/pitas-esic-ban-reduced-to-55-months