Jock Palfreeman moved to house arrest in Bulgaria
Jock Palfreeman has been released into house arrest as he lashed out at Australia’s sudden interest in his case, saying he would rather stay in Bulgaria.
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The father of Australian Jock Palfreeman who was convicted of murder in Bulgaria has said his son “regrets anyone had to die that night”.
Simon Palfreeman told ABC radio this morning he knows his son “didn’t murder that boy” and was acting in self-defence.
Jock, who was convicted of murder in 2009, was released from the Busmantsi Immigration Detention Centre in Bulgaria shortly after 3am (AEST).
Bulgarian authorities took his passport, which was only issued in September, to prevent him from leaving the country.
Mr Palfreeman said he had spoken to his son briefly this morning and while he was “very happy” to be out of detention, was “stressed and tired”.
“Even though he’s out of detention he’s still being detained in Bulgaria,” he said.
“For about three weeks they claimed he didn’t have a passport and therefore couldn’t leave.
“This morning they raided his room and actually confiscated his passport on the basis that he was a deportee.
“He has at the same time both a deportation order to get out of Bulgaria and at the same time they claim he has a travel ban for leaving Bulgaria.”
Mr Palfreeman said the travel ban was automatically given to his son in 2011 as he was a prisoner.
“Once he stopped being a prisoner, it is null and void,” he said.
Jock has now been forced to initiate court proceedings to overturn the ban, said Mr Palfreeman.
Despite his son being in prison on the other side of the world for 11 years, Mr Palfreeman said they had remained close.
“It’s been a very good relationship, I think during the whole court process which took three years, we quite literally stood shoulder to shoulder cross examining all the witnesses in that court case,” he said.
“He’s much more assertive and out there than I am, but I think together we’ve formed a quite good team over the years.”
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Earlier, Mr Palfreeman said from Newcastle it was “good news” but he was still in the dark about the full details of his son’s release.
“It is good news, I’m only just coming to grips with it,” he said.
“All I can say is for weeks the prosecutor-general’s office and the justice department has been saying that Jock can leave when he has a passport but now his passport has been confiscated.”
Jock, a former student at Sydney’s elite The King’s School, has spent more than 11 years in jail for the stabbing murder of Andrei Monov in 2007.
However, the Australian said outside the detention centre that he wanted to stay in Bulgaria.
“If I had a choice, I would stay in Bulgaria. For those 12 years, it was only Bulgarians that helped me,” he said.
“Australians became interested in me only recently.
“I will have to go back to Australia after the Bulgarian authorities allow me to do that as I have to sort out some documents,” he said.
He added in Bulgarian: “If they reopen the case, each judge will feel forced to abandon the case because he can never be impartial after so much media fuss and eventually they will have to find a judge from another country to rule on the case.
“There are many people who have been granted parole and released from jail before and after me and during this trial,” he said according to a translation of his comments.
A court ordered he be released on parole last month but the decision has been challenged in Bulgaria’s highest court.
A decision on the prosecutor’s appeal against the decision was due within two months.
Nikola Nikolov, head of Bulgaria’s Migration Directorate, gave a press briefing in front of Busmantsi Detention Centre last night.
Mr Nikolov said Palfreeman’s ID document has been confiscated as a guarantee because he has a ban to leave Bulgaria.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne said after Jock’s release: “I welcome the release of Jock Palfreeman from Busmantsi Detention Centre, Bulgaria on 15 October.
“I am concerned, however, that Mr Palfreeman continues to be denied the right to return to Australia, having being granted parole in September.
“We call on the Bulgarian Government to ensure Mr Palfreeman receives due process, consistent with Bulgarian law.
“Australia has provided and will continue to provide everything required to assist Mr Palfreeman‘s departure from Bulgaria as soon as possible.”
Originally published as Jock Palfreeman moved to house arrest in Bulgaria