British justice minister Jack Straw said he would ask his Bulgarian counterpart Miglena Tacheva for more clarity on Bulgaria's position on the case of 21-year-old Michael Shields. Shields is currently serving a 10-years sentence in Garth Prison, Leyland, for attacking Bulgarian Martin Georgiev with a stone on the head in 2005. Sentenced by Bulgarian court, he was later transferred to a UK prison.

On February 28 Straw told the Liverpool Echo (no relation to The Sofia Echo) he would ask Tacheva for clarification on a letter Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov sent the British authorities last November. “The letter does not amount to specific authority for us to try to free Michael,” Straw was quoted as saying.

The letter written on behalf of Purvanov said that according to the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons (article 12), each party to this convention may grant a pardon, amnesty or commutation of a sentence in accordance with the constitution or laws. The letter was interpreted by some UK media, among them the Liverpool Echo, as a hint by Purvanov that he would not object to the UK issuing Shields a pardon. Later Purvanov said he would not advise Vice-President Angel Marin to pardon Shields.

“If the Bulgarian authorities say formally that they are now content to see Michael Shields released by Britain then that changes matters,” Straw told Liverpool Echo. Without such a formal content the UK could not take steps in Shields early release because “we have to implement the sentencing decision of the foreign court or the whole transfer agreement would break down. If there was another case like Michael’s it could mean we would be unable to get them home,” Straw said.

Shields is scheduled for release in 2010, according to the Liverpool-based daily.