Just unban him.
I really do understand wanting to get a hand wave from someone higher up before doing something you're unsure of but this really is supposed to be your guy's decision to make @hongkongatron @DiaperHyperWolf. You wouldn't have the positions you do if they didn't trust you to act independently. Even then, you'd have to be pretty new around here to assume aegean wouldn't be fine with this or to not have seen people get unbanned out of basic forgiveness after long time periods before.
Just a few quick examples if you're really still unsure yourselves-
https://xenogamers.com/topic/24386-coolduck/#
https://xenogamers.com/topic/22901-gamepony-team-fortress-2/
https://xenogamers.com/topic/24463-cliimate/