Background

Jock Palfreeman is a 23-year-old Australian currently in prison in Sofia, Bulgaria. He has been charged with premeditated murder and attempted murder with antisocial intent, after a conflict with a group of 16 men.

In December 2007, Jock witnessed the group attacking two men of Roma ethnicity in Sofia. Jock went to the aid of the Roma men, putting himself in the middle of the attack. The Roma men were able to escape, but the gang continued their vicious attack on Jock. Following the fight, one member of the gang was killed (Andrey Monov) and another injured (Antoan Zahariev). Jock maintains that he tried to escape the violent gang, and was forced to act in self-defense.

Jock was refused bail, and has spent almost two years in Sofia Central Prison. On Wednesday, 2nd December 2009, Jock gave his final plea to the court, and was subsequently found to be guilty of both charges. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with civil fines of 450,000 Bulgarian Leva (about 375,000 AUD).

The following are known and proven facts regarding Jock’s case. Click on the links to view evidence and witness statements to support the facts.

The quotations given are direct and official translations of signed statements given during the investigation and in court.

On the evening of the 28th December 2007, the group in question chased and severely assaulted one or two men of Roma ethnicity (“gypsies”) near the entrance to the Serdika Metro Station, Sofia. Jock ran from the garden of the ‘Happy Restaurant’ to intervene and stop the attack

There was a second assault by the same group on Jock near a kiosk on the corner of Stamboliiski Boulevard. This assault started almost 2 minutes after and 100m from the first assault, and 5 minutes before Andrei Monov fell to the ground

During the second attack, which was made against Jock near the kiosk at the corner of Stamboliiski Boulevard, one member of the gang was injured (Zahariev) and another killed (Monov) by a knife wound

The gang members have consistently lied to avoid their responsibility for starting the violence that led to the death of Andrey Monov. The prosecutor has blocked evidence and statements from the court, which exposes the lies of both gang members and police

The investigation and court proceedings were flawed, and biased against Jock’s defense

The nature of the trial against Jock has been in violation of his Human Rights

All available evidence shows that the gang made a determined and conscious decision to assault Jock that night, using their superior numbers and large concrete tiles as weapons. All available evidence supports Jock’s statement, that he intervened to stop a racially motivated attack, and was then forced to defend himself against 16 violent men.

Furthermore, the gang acted in violation of Bulgarian Law, Article 163, paragraph 1:

"people who participate in a group attack on groups of the population, individual citizens, or their property in connection with their national or racial belonging".

Jock then responded, in accordance with Bulgarian Law, Article 12, paragraph 1:

“not considered socially dangerous shall be the act of justifiable defense in order to defend against an immediate illegal attack against the personality and rights of an individual, or the defender of this individual"

See also: