Bulgarian Court Allows New Witness Questioning in Palfreeman Trial

Jock Palfreeman is appealing the 20-year sentence he got at the Sofia Appellate Court. Photo by BGNES

The Sofia Appellate Court has agreed to allow a second questioning of 5 witnesses in the trial of Australian Jock Palfreeman, who is appealing a 20-year sentence for allegedly stabbing 2 Bulgarian youngsters in 2007.

The Sofia City Court has sentenced Palfreeman for killing 20-year-old Andrey Monov and wounding Antoan Zahariev the night of December 27, 2007, in downtown Sofia. Palfreeman claims he intervened when he saw a group of guys attack two homeless Roma. He has pleaded not guilty.

The murdered Andrey Monov is the only son of Hristo Monov, a former Deputy Director of the Bulgarian Child Protection Agency.

"We got a 50% success rate," Palfreeman's lawyer Dinko Kanchev said after Thursday's court hearing as he requested, in addition to the second questioning of the witnesses, new viewing and examination of CCTV footage from the crime scene in downtown Sofia. The court did not grant the lawyer's second request.

The next hearing of the Paulfreeman trial will be on November 11, 2010; it is when the five witnesses – Antoan Zahariev and Alexander Donev, another young man in Monov's group, and three police officers.

The motives of the defense to request the new questioning are that there are contradictions in the witness testimonies. Lawyer Kanchev said he believed the case will be resolved after the new hearing of the five witnesses.

Defendant Jock Palfreeman, a native of Sydney, Australia, appeared in court in a suit, as he did during past hearings. His father is part of his defense together with lawyer Dinko Kanchev.

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