They could have been less lenient, and outright Banned your account Permanently. I'm not saying you are guilty or innocent, but making a big stink of the situation on an unofficial forum is not going to do anything. What I'm curious about, is you stated that you know those same people are online and not banned (the ones you group with)... how do you know if you aren't able to log in? Team Speak? Private forums? Do you have a second account that you can clearly see they are online with?
Just because your 'friends' say they didnt do it... would you really take their word, over the server side information that EQ can and does look at?