Negative SEO on my website with paid +1's

[Fastbridge]

Hi guys,

I need a piece of advice.

Some scumbag played me quite well with paid +1's on my two articles and now I'm in a problem.
http://sr.stateofseo.com/seo-vesti/google-implementacija-ssl-protokola-not-provided-problem/
http://sr.stateofseo.com/napredni-seo/najnovije-promene-google-panda-algoritma/
They are both translated articles (written originally by me on the same website).

I've noticed those +1's (476 on both articles) when my website received a penalty for "SEO" keyword on Google.rs (Serbian Google) and I'm now on the 11th page.
Other keywords still rank just fine.

Not cool, right?

Now, I think there could be two solutions:
First one is to remove my inner link that's pointing to my homepage with "SEO" anchor, and hope for the best.

Second one is to completely remove/delete those two articles and wait for Google to reindex the website and hopefully remove my ban.

Do you guy have some other ideas how can I fix this or remove / disavow those +1 or somehow explain to the Google crew / algo that I'm just a humble SEO without any evil thoughts?

Thank you in advance.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

I see no problem doing this - like you said, just republish and you should be golden

[Fastbridge]

Yeah, that sounds reasonable.
I'm a bit greedy and I like my content so should I republish those two articles (different URL, different meta stuff and other elements)?

When I change questionable URL's, I should loose those black-hat-paid +1's (they should be linked to URL's right?) and preserve my content that's definitely worth saving:)

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Just remove the pages - don't even bother to try and 301 them, but a good 404 page won't hurt. If Google have already penalised you, albeit a heavy-handed method, show them you are serious about fixing it. In the re-inclusion request, explain what you think has happened.

Andy