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I’ve been meaning to post a little moar about Jock for some weeks now, but yesterday I got a letter from him — oddly enough, only hours after I sent Jock a postcard — so I thought I might post a brief update.<\/p>\n
For those of you coming in late, Paul ‘Jock’ Palfreeman is a 23-year-old Australian currently serving a 20-year sentence in Sofia Central Prison (Bulgaria) for murder and attempted murder. To be precise, on December 2, 2009, Jock was found guilty<\/a> of premeditated murder and attempted murder with antisocial (hooligan) intent; in addition to imprisonment, Jock received a 450,000 leva (375,000 AUD) fine. Jock is also liable for 18,000 leva in court fees, and the 450,000 leva fine is also subject to tax (13,000 leva) and interest of 6–8% per annum<\/em> (dating from December 2007).<\/p>\n Jock has always maintained that he acted in self-defence, after coming to the aid of two Roma men who he witnessed being beaten by a gang of fascist football hooligans on the streets of Sofia — more details regarding his defence are available on the ‘Free Jock’ website, established by his friends and supporters.<\/p>\n Jock’s letter states that from early January he was placed in isolation, unable to receive or send mail or to make phone calls: the duration of his isolation is unknown.<\/p>\n Of related interest to Jock’s case is the story of Michael Shields:<\/p>\n Brit wrongly jailed demands apology<\/a> A British man jailed in Bulgaria for a crime he didn’t commit is demanding apologies from both governments.<\/p>\n Michael Shields, 23, of Wavertree, Liverpool, received a royal pardon four months ago following his wrongful conviction for the attempted murder of a Bulgarian waiter.<\/p>\n He was released in September 2009 after spending four-and-a-half years in prison…<\/p>\n His comments come shortly after the family of a 23-year-old Sydney man handed a 20-year prison sentence for murder in Bulgaria vowed to appeal the ruling.<\/p>\n A Sofia Court last month found Paul “Jock” Palfreeman guilty of the murder of 20-year-old Bulgarian law student Andrei Monov and severely wounding Antoan Zahariev, 19, in a fight in Sofia on December 28, 2007.<\/p>\n Palfreeman, who has been in custody since the incident, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder, claiming self-defence.<\/p>\n He told the court he had run to help a man who was being beaten by a group of drunken football fans.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In Europe, there has been some small smattering of publicity regarding Jock’s case, and below are links to all the references among anti-fascist groups that I can find.<\/p>\n The Czechoslovak Anarchist Federation (CSAF) has a post<\/a> on Jock’s case, promoting ‘One night in Sofia’, the highly-recommended half-hour documentary on Jock’s case produced by the ABC last year. (Note that the CSAF is a member of the International of Anarchist Federations (IAF-IFA), the Bulgarian member of which, the Federation of Anarchists of Bulgaria (FAB), has denounced<\/a> Jock, as well as all attempts to act in solidarity with him.) Reference to Jock is also made in another Czech language blog — Monitoring v\u0161eho mo\u017en\u00e9ho — here<\/a>.<\/p>\n In December, the Anarchist Black Cross (ABC) in Berlin reported that Jock Palfreeman in Bulgarien zu 20 Jahren verurteilt<\/a>. The post appears to be a German translation of a post<\/a> at the Bristol ABC blog, a version<\/a> of which also appears on the Denver (USA) ABC blog. Another post concerning Jock — Bu\u0142garia: Australijczyk skazany za obron\u0119 w\u0142asn\u0105 w walce z rasistami<\/a> — appears on a Polish-language blog. Finally, AntiFascist Network<\/a> is carrying a banner linking to the FreeJock site.<\/p>\n I’ve been meaning to post a little moar about Jock for some weeks now, but yesterday I got a letter from him — oddly enough, only hours after I sent Jock a postcard — so I thought I might post … Continue reading
\nThe Age<\/em> (AAP)
\nJanuary 4, 2010<\/p>\nFreeJock<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"