In 2007 the Australian Jock Palfreeman, who was visiting Bulgaria for the second time, got involved in a fight with a bulgarian hooligan group who were beating two Roma on the street in the centre of Sofia. The situation escalated and eventually Jock, who had a knife with him, stabbed two of the attackers and one of them, Andrei Monov, later died from his wounds. The police did not search members of the group and did not secure the whole crime scene. Jock was arrested and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in the Central Prison of Sofia for intended murder and till now not being expelled to Australia but kept in prison under corrupt police and guards. Despite the delays and deficiencies in the investigation, critical evidence was collected that supported Jock’s version of events. The essential difference between the prosecution and defence cases was the beating of the Roma boy by the group before the two men from the group were wounded. The prosecution denied this ever happened (based solely on the group’s own evidence).
The father of the dead is an influental psychotherapist with contacts to the right wing in Bulgaria, who did everything to make situation for Jock worse. At the funeral of Andrei Monov there had been fascists and high politicians attending. It can be expected that the court and judge was bribed to give the highest sentence possible. The parents of the boy who died blocked key evidence supporting Jock’s case. We know that this was not intended murder of an innocent person as it was later said in the courtcase, but a situation of defense. We know that daily situation for Roma people in Bulgaria and other european countries is marked by attacks, discrimination and ignorance of people.
Jock is continuing resisting in prison against orders, has a clear antiracist and critical standing and took initiative to create the bulgarian prisoners association, which has the goal to defend and expend the rights of prisoners in Bulgaria and beyond. They write in a statement: „Our main goal is to reduce the massive difference between prisoners´ rights in other E.U. member states and these in Bulgaria. At the moment Bulgaria has the highest record of human rights abuses in their judicial system out of all the E.U. States.“ (www.bulgarianprisonersassociation.wordpress.com)
Contact and more information:
freejock@live.com.au www.freejock.com
a3yo@riseup.net www.a3yo.noblogs.org
Mail can be sent directly to:
Jock Palfreeman
Sofia Central Prison
21 General Stoletov Boulevard
Sofia 1309, BULGARIA
