diff --git a/fail2ban-client b/fail2ban-client
index 0f863ab0e..af1ac856a 100755
--- a/fail2ban-client
+++ b/fail2ban-client
@@ -156,10 +156,10 @@ class Fail2banClient:
 					if showRet:
 						print beautifier.beautify(ret[1])
 				else:
-					ret = False
 					logSys.error("NOK: " + `ret[1].args`)
 					if showRet:
 						print beautifier.beautifyError(ret[1])
+					ret = False
 			except socket.error:
 				if showRet:
 					logSys.error("Unable to contact server. Is it running?")