Bulgarian police officers escort Australian Jock Palfreeman as he arrives for his trial at Sofia City Court on January 19, 2011. AFP PHOTO / NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV Source: The Daily Telegraph
AN Australian man imprisoned in Bulgaria claims he's being "held for ransom" after Bulgarian authorities rejected a federal government request for him to complete his sentence in Australia.
Jock Palfreeman, 25, was found guilty of "murder with hooliganism" after fatally stabbing Bulgarian law student Andrei Monov, 20, in the capital Sofia in December 2007.
In 2009 a Bulgarian court ordered Palfreeman to pay the equivalent of $A252,000 in compensation to his victims and their families.
Palfreeman has told Australian journalists visiting him in Sofia Central Prison the Bulgarian government has officially denied an Australian government request to transfer him to an Australian prison.
"Essentially I'm being held for ransom," he said.
"If family and friends pay (the money) then I can transfer to Australia legally."
Palfreeman was convicted of the murder despite allegations crucial CCTV footage and witnesses went missing, and forensic evidence suggesting the fatal blow did not come from Palfreeman's knife.
Friends of the dead man who witnessed the incident also contradicted their original police statements during court testimonies.
Palfreeman's father, Simon Palfreeman, says the debt has been accruing at around 15 to 20 per cent a year - and is now about $A600,000.
"At this stage we would do whatever we could to get Jock back because I think the longer he stays there, the harder it will be to get him out," he said.
Director of human rights group the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, Dr Krassimir Kanev, says Jock's best option is to pay the money.
"Compared to prisons that I have seen in former Soviet Union ... such as Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, I would think the Bulgarian prisons are worse even compared to those."
Palfreeman was 15 days into a hunger strike when Australian journalists were allowed into the small cell he shares with up to eight men.
"(In Bulgaria, foreigners) are legally eligible for everything but they don't give it to us. Foreigners are not given parole," he said.
"The Bulgarian groups are treated one way, then the foreigners are treated differently and then from the foreigners I'm treated even worse.
"I'm like the scum of the scum."
The parents of the murdered man have previously said Palfreeman was a danger to society who deserved a life sentence without parole.
A spokesman for the Department of foreign Affairs and Trade said the Australian government would not assist the Palfreeman family with the debt.
A spokesman for the Attorney-General's department could not elaborate on the status of transfer negotiations "due to the confidential nature of transfer applications".
The Bulgarian Ministry of Justice have not responded to a request for comment.
Palfreeman lost his final Bulgarian appeal in 2011 but has since lodged an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights.
While it is expected to take up to five years to make a ruling, Palfreeman says he is working to set up Bulgaria's first ever Prisoners' Union.
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