The trial against independent member of Parliament (MP) Pavel Chernev was postponed because he takes part in the municipal elections on October 28 2007.

Chernev, who is charged with causing physical injury, runs for mayor of Sofia, mediapool.bg said.

On October 15 2007, Sofia City Court postponed the court hearing in the trial until November 20 2007 to prevent the court sentence from being used in pre-election campaigns.

Chernev was accused of beating up Ivailo Dachov, activist of the Bulgarian National Union, together with two of his bodyguards, on February 7 2007.

Chernev said that it was “logical for a nationalist to be defendant.” It was a European practice, he said.

This is the second court case to be postponed because of local elections. Because of his candidature in the local election in Velingrad, one of the court cases against Movement for Rights and Freedom MP Fidel Beev was recently postponed as well.