Jock Palfreeman: Aussie says he’s become a ‘folk hero’ in Bulgaria
Australian Jock Palfreeman, who is awaiting a decision on whether his parole is revoked in Bulgaria over a stabbing murder, says he’s no longer viewed as “scum of the earth”.
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As Jock Palfreeman waits to learn his future, his case has transformed into not only a fight for his freedom but one for Bulgarian justice, a civil rights lawyer says.
The 32-year-old Australian is in limbo for two months as the Supreme Court of Cassation examines an appeal court’s decision to grant him parole.
He could end up back in prison where he’s already spent 11 years for stabbing a Bulgarian law student in December 2007.
“This is a fight not only for Jock but also for Bulgarian justice,” prominent civil rights lawyer Nikolay Hadjigenov told AAP.
It’s a reality Palfreeman says has transformed him from the “scum of the earth” to “some type of folk hero” in the eyes of the Bulgarian people.
“If I had got parole, was deported and came back to Australia, I would have left the same way I was for 12 years — scum of the earth, public enemy number one,” Mr Palfreeman told AAP.
“But now, me and my case have been turned into a symbol for fighting corruption and the abuse of power.”
Palfreeman has always maintained he acted in self-defence after he came to the aid of two gypsies he said were being assaulted by Andrei Monov — the son of a then-prominent politician — and his friends.
Palfreeman, who is stuck in Bulgaria with no passport, says the prosecutor-general’s push to have his case reopened has backfired with public opinion turned on its head.
JOCK FEARS BEING ‘SET UP’
Earlier this month, Palfreeman expressed fears he will be set up if sent back to jail.
In an interview with ABC TV, he said “there is not a judge in Bulgaria” who would give him parole again, and expressed fear he’ll be “set up” by the “fascists who control the prisons”.
“For sure they would set me up, they would put drugs in my room, they would get a false witness against me, they would set me up to try and get me another sentence, and to put me back into maximum security prison,” he said.
The former Sydney private schoolboy said he felt he had no choice but to intervene in the incident which changed the course of his life.
“On that night in December, 2007, I clearly understood what the situation was, and I, I wasn’t going to allow it to happen in front of me, you know, I wasn’t going to allow these guys to beat this guy to death,” he said.
Palfreeman told ABC TV he has no information on the Supreme Court ruling.
“The laws are clear that they shouldn’t send my case back to be reviewed, but the laws are also clear that when you’re being attacked by 13 men that you’re allowed to defend yourself and I got 20 years anyway,” he said.
“Can you imagine if they had beaten the guy to death. And everyone had just been watching, I had been watching.”
When asked if he regretted carrying a knife on the night of the murder, Palfreeman said he had gone through all the possible scenarios in his head.
“You know your first year of prison, you go back through every choice you made, and you go over and over and over again and again and again,” he said.
Palfreeman has promised to pay $800,000 in “blood money”ordered to the family of his victim ordered as part of his 2009 conviction and apologised for his actions.
He now estimates the bill at over 1 million Bulgarian levs, which was equivalent to $838,000 Australian dollars.
He said he was willing to pay the money back for the rest of his life.
He also told News Corp he is worried about his safety, remaining in hiding in Bulgaria while he awaits the outcome of the legal challenge.
There have been widespread protests at Palfreeman’s release, with fears some hard right wing supporters may attack him.
“I’m sorry about the death of Andrei Monov, that was not my goal,” he told Bulgaria’s Nova television station.
Palfreeman had argued that he was going to the defence of Roma gypsies who were being attacked at the time of Mr Monov’s death, but now says he has accepted responsibility.
“This was not a fight, this was an attack. My goal was to save someone’s life, not to take someone’s life away,” he said.
Palfreeman said he has no documents after his passport was confiscated and confirmed he was not carrying any weapons like he did on the day of Mr Monov’s death in 2007.
He added he was prepared that a legal challenge to his parole may succeed and that he may have to return to jail to finish the seven years remaining on his sentence.
Palfreeman spent his first night out of jail with friends in Sofia and spoke to his father Dr Simon Palfreeman after his release.
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He reassured his dad he was okay and explained to him the bizarre lead-up to his unexpected release from the Busmantsi Immigration Detention Centre.
“He was relating what happened, he said there was a whole group of police who raided his room and looked around his room for his passport,” Dr Palfreeman told News Corp.
“They told him they had the authority to take his passport. Then he was told he could leave.”
Dr Palfreeman said it was the first time he has spoken to his son outside a jail in more than a decade.
“It was a nice call to have when he was outside detention,” he said.
“I’m very relieved but I can’t really relax until he’s back on Australian soil.”
Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she was concerned Palfreeman was refused the right to return to Australia after being granted parole.
“We call on the Bulgarian Government to ensure Mr Palfreeman receives due process, consistent with Bulgarian law,” she said.
“Australia has provided and will continue to provide everything required to assist Mr Palfreeman‘s departure from Bulgaria as soon as possible.”
Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassation, the highest in the country, has two months to come back with a decision on whether to revoke Palfreeman’s parole, which would overturn 130 years of legal precedent.
Palfreeman, who was moved to the detention centre after his parole decision, said that despite his ordeal he wanted to remain 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.”
Speaking in Bulgarian, he added outside the detention centre: “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.
Palfreeman’s lawyer Kalin Angelov told local media that his client was pleased to be out, but concerned for the future.
“Yesterday he was in good spirits. Finally he managed to go outside of the institutions (jails) of the Republic of Bulgaria,” he said.
Mr Angelov added that Australian consular staff were not present for his release.
Nikolay Nikolov, head of Bulgaria’s Migration Directorate, said outside Busmantsi Detention Centre: “He will have to show up at an interior ministry office once a week until a ban to leave the country, issued back in 2011, is lifted.”
Mr Nikolov said Palfreeman’s passport was confiscated as a guarantee because he was banned to leave Bulgaria.