Australian jailed for 2007 stabbing free to leave Bulgaria

SOFIA, Bulgaria – An Australian man released after serving 11 years in a Bulgarian prison over a fatal stabbing is free to return home following a decision by the country’s highest court, which refused to send him back to prison.

The Supreme Court of Cassation on Thursday rejected a petition by the country’s chief prosecutor to revoke the parole a lower court granted to 33-year old Jock Palfreeman. Thursday’s decision cannot be appealed.

“The request for reopening of the case is inadmissible and should be dismissed and the proceedings terminated,” the court said in a statement.

Palfreeman was convicted of fatally stabbing a Bulgarian student during a 2007 brawl. Last September, a three-judge Court of Appeals panel unexpectedly ordered him freed 11 years into his 20-year prison sentence.

Chief prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov — who has since retired — petitioned the Supreme Court of Cassation to suspend Palfreeman’s parole and review the panel’s ruling, saying that two of the judges faced a conflict of interest.