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Thu, Feb 09 2012
Australian documentary on Palfreeman alleges 'Midnight Express' conditions in Sofia jail
Jock Palfreeman
Photo: Georgi Kozhouharov
An Australian ABC documentary One Night in Sofia - produced as part of the Foreign Correspondent series - focuses on the case of 22-year-old Australian Jock Palfreeman who is behind bars in Sofia on remand accused of the murder of 20-year-old Bulgarian Andrei Monov, a law student, on December 27 2007.
Monov's mother was a lawyer and his father a respected psychologist who once worked for the police department and is now a deputy minister in the Ministry of Health. Ironically, Palfreeman's parents are also health professionals based in Sydney.
The documentary presents an unflattering portrait of life in Sofia Central Prison. "Inside one of the upstairs cells, away from view, is a young Australian on the worst count of murder in this former communist country: murder with hooliganism. It looks like something out of Midnight Express" - the infamous film from 1978 featuring the incarceration of a young American drug smuggler - "but it is all too real for Sydneysider Jock Palfreeman and his family."
In a trailer for the programme journalist Belinda Hawkins describes the despair in the jail. "Palfreeman shares a cell with five other prisoners and he says they try to support each other when thoughts turn to suicide. They are only allowed visitors twice a month for 40 minutes. The rest of the time they have nothing to do. Only convicted prisoners are being allowed to work. Prisoners rely on family and friends to bring in fresh food, clothes and basics like toilet paper. Many of the foreigners have no-one to do this. Palfreeman is lucky to have a group of close Bulgarian friends; without them his plight would be even worse."
Hawkins traces a visit made by Palfreeman's Sydney-based parents, Dr Simon Palfreeman and his wife Helen. The film says it was Dr Palfreeman's first visit to see his son in three months. Hawkins says that Jock Palfreeman forces himself to keep a tight rein on his emotions during his father's visit, otherwise he risks subsequent reprisals from prison officers and inmates.
Palfreeman has consistently claimed that he only lunged out with a knife in self-defence when he intervened during a gang attack on a young Gypsy.
"Many of the witnesses to the tragedy are now changing their stories in court and the court is refusing to allow their original statements - that support Palfreeman's version of events - to be heard," claims Hawkins in the article.
Hawkins adds that the "trial has dragged on since last May and there's no end in sight".
Palfreeman's case has become something of a contentious 'cause celebre' with fierce debate on the internet among supporters and detractors alike.
Monov's father apparently refused to talk to the Australian crew, saying that he refuses to talk to anyone coming from, in Hawkins' words, "a country that produced such a monster as Palfreeman".
Monov's mother was a lawyer and his father a respected psychologist who once worked for the police department and is now a deputy minister in the Ministry of Health. Ironically, Palfreeman's parents are also health professionals based in Sydney.
The documentary presents an unflattering portrait of life in Sofia Central Prison. "Inside one of the upstairs cells, away from view, is a young Australian on the worst count of murder in this former communist country: murder with hooliganism. It looks like something out of Midnight Express" - the infamous film from 1978 featuring the incarceration of a young American drug smuggler - "but it is all too real for Sydneysider Jock Palfreeman and his family."
In a trailer for the programme journalist Belinda Hawkins describes the despair in the jail. "Palfreeman shares a cell with five other prisoners and he says they try to support each other when thoughts turn to suicide. They are only allowed visitors twice a month for 40 minutes. The rest of the time they have nothing to do. Only convicted prisoners are being allowed to work. Prisoners rely on family and friends to bring in fresh food, clothes and basics like toilet paper. Many of the foreigners have no-one to do this. Palfreeman is lucky to have a group of close Bulgarian friends; without them his plight would be even worse."
Hawkins traces a visit made by Palfreeman's Sydney-based parents, Dr Simon Palfreeman and his wife Helen. The film says it was Dr Palfreeman's first visit to see his son in three months. Hawkins says that Jock Palfreeman forces himself to keep a tight rein on his emotions during his father's visit, otherwise he risks subsequent reprisals from prison officers and inmates.
Palfreeman has consistently claimed that he only lunged out with a knife in self-defence when he intervened during a gang attack on a young Gypsy.
"Many of the witnesses to the tragedy are now changing their stories in court and the court is refusing to allow their original statements - that support Palfreeman's version of events - to be heard," claims Hawkins in the article.
Hawkins adds that the "trial has dragged on since last May and there's no end in sight".
Palfreeman's case has become something of a contentious 'cause celebre' with fierce debate on the internet among supporters and detractors alike.
Monov's father apparently refused to talk to the Australian crew, saying that he refuses to talk to anyone coming from, in Hawkins' words, "a country that produced such a monster as Palfreeman".
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Palfreeman case will resume on December 2 with lawyers' arguments
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Australian press have taken a keen interest in the case with the focus on the Bulgarian justice system and alleged discrimination against Roma.
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Eurostat estimates that 123 people in 100 000 in the EU are in jail; Bulgaria is above average at 145 out of 100 000. The United States, with three-fifths the population of the EU, has an average of 1000 per 100 000 people in jail.
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The trial is a farce at best. Racism roams rampant still in the country and news only sticks when white Bulgarians are hurt. Potentially the only way to get a fair trial is to put international pressure. Hopefully the case makes it high on the list of the EU body monitoring progress of the judicial system reform in Bulgaria. If you are concerned and want to help, you can contact the press, contact your representative, contact Viviane Reding, VP at the EU Commission.
Aussies are in denial... check the news today (5th Jan 2010) another foreigner stabbed to death in Aus... possibly becuase of his race. Sad but true but Australia today is a land fill of angry young men who believe it their right to carry weapons... worse still to use them. Australia is not the land of the free... its the land of the thug. Their proffessional sport is full of thugs who are constantly in trouble with the law.... Time to pull the head out of the sand Australia and take action to reverse the slide in your social standards. [...]
Read the full comment Mr Palfreeman is finding out what happens when you carry a weapon... For no good reason. He's just another (sad)statistic.. like Shappelle Corby.
What's really telling is that when you watch the video's (the ones on youtube anyways) and they talk to the prosecutor (the blond gal), she doesn't even look the reporter in the eye when she talks... interesting.
the ironic thing with all you people who get angry that jock carried a knife is that he was right to do it! He carried a knife for self protection..... He was attacked by over 15 men.... He used the knife to protect himself...... Where's the problem with him carrying a knife? If someone attacks me i'd do anything possible to defend myself the same as jock!
That gang attacked a roma man, then jock, then a woman, then the police
Your right, a guy is dead, and from the evidence in [...]
Read the full comment court the rest were lucky the police came, as they didn't seem to be smart enough to stop attacking random people on the streets of Sofia
The stab wound was not to the back, it was to the front.
When you are attacked by between 12 and 20 men hurling concrete blocks at you, punching and kicking you AND there is no means of escape; it is strongly arguable that lethal force is reasonable and justified.
If this happened in Australia, he would be let out on $1,000 bail and subsequently convicted of malicious assault and fined.
I don't care of the documentary, I didn't see it. The only important thing in this case is that a fair justice with a deep independant investigation, without any bribes of any kind, succeed on to reveal the truth and punish the reponsable(s) as writen in the books of bulgarian laws.
No matter if we are in Bulgaria and no matter if that guy is Australian, the law MUST be the same for everyone!
wow, wow, slow down, all of you
just because it is an Australian involved in this horrible case you are taking a side, not even considering what happened - a life was lost, and because someone decided to carry and use a knife that night.
Since when self defence includes stubbing someone in the back and straight into the heart?
i am quite surprised that ABC presented such a biased view of this whole tragedy, and it is a tragedy mostly for the dead guy's family, cause Jock is still alive and looks healthy, [...]
Read the full comment not lost weight and so on.
Everyone's talking about the Bulgarian judicial system, how corrupt it is, etc.
Well, how many of you have had any dealings with the Australian one in order to make these statements, my guess is none of you, all your views are based on what's presented by the local media and you just swallow it like hot porridge...
use your brains people, do some research, it will be of benefit to you.
I too watched the ABC documentary on Jock Palfreeman in Australia. Australians want one thing and that is a fair unbiased trial, surely that is everyone's right!
... and if its not obvious don't carry a weapon ... its never a good idea. A sad lesson for two young lads and their families.
Dont expect that there will be anything approaching justice in the Bulgarian courts. They are too open to manipulation and the judges are willing to bend the rules to gain a politically correct acquittal - or one where they have had suitable inducement. Bulgaria needs a fair court system where criminals face real punishment for crimes - that includes sitting members of the parliament. Let it be said however that carrying a weapon about is illadvised - mace or somehting similar is a far better option - however Bulgaria is very safe compared with many parts of the world. Good [...]
Read the full comment luck to the defendant - he will need it.
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
The report threw serious doubt on the independence of the Bulgarian justice system. The Courts are randomly selective of which witness statements will be admitted and refuse to consider a statement of the English witness who supports the defence story. The most telling fact is that the EU will not confirm Bulgaria's EU membership until it 'fixes the corruption in it's justice system'. Add to that the fact that the victim's father is a deputy Minister in the government and there is just no hope of a fair trial. The victim has been made out to be some kind of [...]
Read the full comment hero even though there is no contest to the fact that he was part of an aggressive group of drunken young men.
As a lawyer with previous first hand experience of corrupt European judicial systems I despair that a young Australian is caught in this particular net of injustice in a legal backwater.
Australians must insist that Bulgaria provides a fair trial. What is our government doing?
I have just watched the documentary in Australia. It does not show Bulgaria in a particularly good light. Bulgarian's reading this should watch it via abc.net.au (search Foriegn Correspondent) and judge for themselves if it was accurate.
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained
There will certainly be a serious miscarriage of justice here unless other EU countries, as well as Australia, make it very clear to Bulgaria that this is simply unacceptable. Bulgaria cannot expect the advantages of EC membership while trampling justice into the mud.
I love Hakwins comment that he refuses to talk to anyone coming from "a country that produces such a monster as Palfreeman"
Hmmm so Bulgaria produces no such people?!!!
I have just seen the Foreign Correspondence documentary about Jock. I am appauled at the Bolgarian Court lack of progress. Jock and his family are in my prayers. May this whole thing be over soon and Jock return to his family in good health. Jock appears to be a fine young man and I can understand why his father is so proud of him.