Fri, May 25 2012

Bulgaria to receive dossier on Shields case

Fri, Sep 11 2009 10:27 CET

byGabriel Hershman

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Bulgaria to receive dossier on Shields case

Former foreign minister and deputy prime minister Ivailo Kalfin

UK justice secretary Jack Straw is to hand a dossier on the Michael Shields case to the Bulgarian authorities.

On September 9 2009 Straw granted Shields a controversial pardon after he had been convicted by a Bulgarian court of attacking a barman in Varna.

A source close to Straw apparently revealed on September 10 that the justice secretary was "keen" to help bring the real culprit to justice.

The source apparently told the UK's Daily Mirror newspaper: "The Bulgarians asked for full details. Jack asked our ambassador to give them details of the decision and the new evidence."

Straw insisted his decision was "not a criticism of the Bulgarian court's judgment". He said: "I've seen evidence that they did not."

The decision to grant Shields a pardon has been criticised by former foreign minister Ivailo Kalfin who said it "gave a bad signal to football hooliganism".

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Bulgaria receives Shields' case documents

Opinion in Bulgaria seems to be unanimous that, legally, little can, or should be done, to contest Shields' pardon.

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