Sofia City Court has put on hold the case against Alexander Tomov former president of CSKA Sofia football club and manager of Kremikovtzi steel plant for malfeasance in office, because he has registered as a candidate for Bulgarian member of European Parliament at the June 7 2009 elections.

By running for European Parliament on the ticket of Bulgarian Social Democracy party, which he chairs, Tomov managed to win himself time out of court for the campaign's duration as the law requires.

Currently anyone without previous convictions can run for the Bulgarian and European Parliament and so avoid legal action for the duration of the election campaign. Legal procedures against the other three defendants in the trial were also put on hold.

If Tomov decides to run for the elections for Bulgarian Parliament, scheduled for July 5 2009, he would get more time out of the reach of Bulgarian judiciary.

Tomov was not the first defendant to take advantage of the opportunity the law provides. First it was businessman Plamen Galev from the small southern town of Doupnitsa who said he would run for the elections of Bulgarian Parliament as a majority candidate. He has been under arrest since January 2009 on accusations of intimidating a local journalist and is currently waiting for his trial to begin.

Soon after Galev, father and son Vesselin and Hristo Danov, from the Black Sea city of Varna, also decided to run for the Bulgarian Parliament. Both are currently under arrest on accusations of forming a criminal group and forcing people into prostitution. The court will have to decide whether they could be set free for the duration of the election campaign.