Raičević: The Karate Federation's Board of Directors confirmed the decision on my suspension, contrary to the Disciplinary Rules

After the Sports Inspectorate of Montenegro annulled the decision of the Board of Directors of the Karate Federation of Montenegro to suspend Toko Raičević, the international referee with the highest title in the European Karate Federation - EKF, the process is not over!

The Board of Directors of the Karate Federation then confirmed the suspension of the Disciplinary Commission of the KSCG from April 29, 2026, and according to Raičević, everything was done maliciously and illegitimately, for the following reasons:

"The first offense I am charged with concerns my criticism of the work of Antonio Espinosa, who has for almost three decades united and usurped the functions of president of the European Karate Federation (EKF) and the World Karate Federation (WKF), on one of the local Montenegrin television stations. I had the right to do so as a member of the Referee Commission of the Balkan Federation (BKF) and a judge with the highest European license. My address was on November 24, 2025, and given that the Disciplinary Rules of the KSCG prescribe the possibility of initiating proceedings within 60 days, the Disciplinary Commission was therefore obliged to reject the report due to exceeding the deadline," Raičević emphasized and added:

"In the second proceeding, they accuse me of having contacted EKF and BKF without the knowledge of the parent Federation. As I am a member of the EKF refereeing organization and a member of the BKF Refereeing Commission, my contacting those organizations therefore excluded the possibility of a violation in the sense that I had bypassed KSCG. And I did not do that, because before contacting BKF and EKF, I contacted the KSCG office, but there was no response for days," Raičević pointed out resignedly.

Due to a tip-off from the parent Federation to the EKF and WKF bodies led by Espinosa - that he had blamed him for the exclusion of karate from the Olympic Games program on the aforementioned local television, he was harassed and belittled during the European Cadet, Junior and Young Senior Championships in Limassol in February.

"The Sports Inspectorate has confirmed the illegitimacy of the decisions of the new KSCG administration, and due to the violation of the Statute and Rules in this new procedure, I will address the KSCG Arbitration Court, and then the MOC Arbitration, to annul the Decision on my suspension for half a year and a fine of 400 euros. Whatever the outcome of these arbitrations, I will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS), in order to compensate for the great damage I have suffered. And that is: the inability to valorize decades of acquired knowledge, exams and obtained licenses at domestic, but also competitions on the largest world stage. In addition, I was removed from the Balkan Referee Commission, and this is not only my loss, but also a loss for Montenegrin karate. The damage was caused by the ignorance of President Igor Ognjenović," Raičević claims, explaining:

"Karate is an ancient sport, with a huge base in all countries of the world and a clear code. Unfortunately, Ognjenović does not know this, continuously violates the acts, regulations and the Statute of the Federation and causes us harm on the orders of the mentors who installed him in that position. I tell him that karate is a recognized sport, which he has never practiced and that it is best for him to stay in fitness and that holistic approach that he persistently proclaims. The Board of Directors of the KSCG naively thinks that by quickly changing the regulations, they will avoid guilt. This cannot be achieved through retroactive changes, because CAS does not recognize this," Raičević said.