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Jock Palfreeman is a 23 year old Australian citizen who, before his arrest in Bulgaria, was a trainee soldier in the British Army.

Jock was arrested following an incident in which he had attempted to defend two Roma people who were being attacked by a group of men in an alleged racist attack, late at night near a metro station in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, shortly before Christmas 2007.
As a result of the incident in which one of the attackers was stabbed to death, Jock has been tried and convicted for murder. For this, he has been given a twenty years prison sentence but has leave to appeal.
The full details of the case remain unclear because the entire procedure of the trial has lacked transparency and the denial of witness testimony has been to such an extent that not only Bulgarian law but also natural law appear to have been violated.

According to the basic principle of most legal systems in the democratic world, that one is innocent until proven guilty beyond all reasonable doubt, both the prosecution of Jock's case and the resulting verdict appear to have been unsafe and unfair. Justice has neither been done nor, even more importantly, been seen to be done. Jock has been denied the elementary requirements of a proper legal defence and, thus, a fair trial.

As human rights activists from thirty-three European countries, we call for a retrial of Jock's case in which he will be given the full right to judicial transparency and a full and proper legal representation, including the right to subpoena witnesses both friendly and hostile to face the normal practice of cross-examination. Additionally, we call upon the Bulgarian justice authorities to grant Jock the right to full bail so that he can properly prepare a case for his defence.
Until Jock is provided with these elementary legal and human rights, his trial and conviction cannot be seen in any way as an expression of justice of any kind.

UNITED for Intercultural Action, meeting in Budapest from 11 May to 16 May 2010 expresses its full solidarity with Jock and his family and their efforts to prove his innocence and secure his early release.

For more information see: http://www.freejock.net

UNITED for Intercultural Action