Jock Palfreeman

On 19 September 2019, Palfreeman was unexpectedly granted parole by a panel of three judges at the Sofia Appellate Court, with Bulgarian Helsinki Committee President Dr Kanev saying, "The appeal court's decision is final ... It's a just decision. There is no reason for Jock Palfreeman not to be released on parole. He has served enough of his sentence — it's almost twelve years now."

Palfreeman was released from immigration detention on 16 October 2019 but is unable to leave the country due to a ban imposed in 2011. On 27 January 2020, Bulgarian National Television reported that the Sofia Administrative Court had overturned the travel ban, however Palfreeman said he was still unable to leave the country as "The border police won't let me go" and he was still without a passport. As of the end of January 2020, the Supreme Court of Cassation, which had said on 7 October 2019 that it would rule on the appeal against his parole within two months, had not made any pronouncement as to the result of the appeal.

Palfreeman made an application for parole in 2018, but withdrew it after Monov's father mounted a protest outside the courthouse and threatened to injure him if he was released. Another application for parole was rejected in early 2019. In April 2019, Palfreeman undertook a hunger strike to draw attention to his case, breaking it to see his grandfather who had travelled from Australia to visit in May.

As chairman of the Bulgarian Prisoners Association, Palfreeman has offered legal advice to fellow inmates. As a result, his privileges were revoked, leading him to begin a hunger strike on 13 January 2013. On 17 October 2013, Palfreeman said that he and 10 other foreign prisoners were subjected to a beating by a prison guard, which he believes was because the guard deliberately did not acknowledge his presence during roll call. Shortly after, the same guard allegedly beat him again, which Palfreeman has apparently reported to a lawyer, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee and the Australian consulate. As of 23 December 2013 there have been no results reported on the findings of any investigation into the incidents. In November 2015, because of his work in upholding the legal rights of Bulgarian prisoners, Australian Caroline Staples selected Jock Palfreeman as a nominee for the "Person of the Year" award in Bulgaria, which was approved by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee. This caused a storm of controversy in Bulgarian society, leading to protests of relatives, friends and other Bulgarians. The BHK eventually decided to withdraw Palfreeman's nomination. The renewed attention paid to the case in Bulgaria resulted in the production of a documentary, which featured an extensive interview with Palfreeman, during which he talked about his pursuits in prison, his place within Bulgarian society and recalled the events of late December 2007. He criticized a number of aspects of his trial and also claimed that he never wanted Andrei Monov to die.

In an interview published in November 2012, Palfreeman claimed he was being "held for ransom" by the Bulgarian government. He was subject to a court order from 2009 claiming restitution of 450,000 Bulgarian Lev (about A$ 375,000), which has increased with interest since his arrest. The Australian government requested that Palfreeman be transferred to Australia, according to the International Prisoner Transfer Agreement to which both Bulgaria and Australia are signatories. If transferred, Palfreeman would have served the remainder of his sentence in an Australian prison. However, the request was denied in July 2013, with the prosecutor's office stating that Palfreeman had violated regulations and had not served enough time to have been rehabilitated. The campaign for transfer continued in Australia, with journalist Belinda Hawkins, lawyer Julian Burnside and actor William McInnes speaking in support at a public meeting in Melbourne. The human rights organisation Bulgaria Helsinki Committee has condemned the decision not to transfer Palfreeman, speculating that there may be undue influence from the dead man's father, who is now a government MP.

On 24 February 2010, the court upheld the conviction and sentence. On 27 July 2011, the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation also upheld the conviction and sentence.

During the trial, some of the youths and police officers changed their versions of events, claiming there were no Roma and no altercation in the lead-up to Andrei Monov's death. When the defence tried to show that this contradicted what the youths had told the police first at the scene and police investigators, the civil claimants and the prosecutor were able to prevent examination of those accounts. On 3 December 2009, the Sofia City Court found Palfreeman guilty and sentenced him to 20 years' imprisonment.

In the early hours of 28 December 2007, 21-year-old Jock Palfreeman was involved in an incident during which Bulgarian student Andrei Monov was fatally stabbed. According to the case file, Monov received a single stab wound to the side of his chest, while 19-year-old Antoan Zahariev received a slash wound to the side of his torso. Palfreeman was injured after being hit in the head and arm with pieces of concrete pavement tiles.

The event in Bulgaria was not the first time Palfreeman had been accused of a stabbing. In 2004, he was named by victims James Atack and Matthew Faunt as the offender in a stabbing attack at a party in Chatswood (a suburb of Sydney). Police investigated but no charges were laid due to a lack of evidence. This stabbing incident was raised during Palfreeman's trial.

Jock Palfreeman (born 13 November 1986) is an Australian who was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years in a Bulgarian prison. Palfreeman was serving in the British Army at the time of the incident.