A Bulgarian district court has acquitted Yordan Lechkov, football legend and former Mayor of Sliven, who was charged with abuse of power.

This was the first trial in a series of other ones against the ex-Mayor to be handled by the Court in Sliven. Until now, the cases were tried in other courts because of the widespread practice of self-withdrawals of Sliven magistrates.

Lechkov was charged with abuse of power because while in office as Mayor he has ordered a school principal to stop a public tender for repairs of the school building and hire a particular company to execute them.

If proven guilty, Lechkov was facing anywhere between 3 and 10 years behind bars and a fine of BGN 3 000 – 5 000, along with being banned from holding any State or public office.

There are currently five different cases against him at different stages and one more not-guilty verdict.

Yordan Lechkov, currently also a Vice President of the Bulgarian Football Federation, was a key member of the historically best Bulgarian national football team, who went on to grab the fourth place at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA.

At the local elections in October, Lechkov, endorsed by the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, ran for a second term in office, but was defeated by Socialist Kolio Milev.