site.btaAppellate Court Grants Conditional Early Release to Australian Sentenced to 20 Years' Imprisonment for Murder in Sofia

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Appellate Court Grants Conditional Early Release to
Australian Sentenced to 20 Years' Imprisonment
for Murder in Sofia


Sofia, September 19 (BTA) - The Sofia Appellate Court has granted a conditional early release to Australian national Jock Palfreeman, the Court said in a press release on Thursday.

A three-judge panel examined Palfreeman's appeal and found that, under the law, he qualifies for early release.

In 2009 the Australian was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment and ordered to pay 450,000 leva compensation for the stabbing murder of student Andrei Monov, 20, in Sofia's Sveta Nedelya Square on December 28, 2007. The sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Cassation on July 27, 2011. Antoan Zahariev, a friend of Monov's, was also injured during the incident, for which Palfreeman was found guilty of attempted murder. During his trial, he claimed that he intervened to defend Roma who were being beaten.

The court's reasoning will be published on its website shortly. IG/LG
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