Palfreeman was sentenced to 20 years for murder but has always maintained he was trying to help a man who was being attacked in Sofia

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

An Australian, Jock Palfreeman, has been unexpectedly granted parole after serving 11 years behind bars for murder in Bulgaria.

Palfreeman, now 32, was serving a 20-year sentence for fatally stabbing a Bulgarian law student, Andrei Monov, 23, during a brawl in the capital, Sofia, in 2007.

The Australian has always insisted he was trying to help a man who was being attacked by a group of Bulgarian youths.

He was given parole by a panel of three judges on Thursday, the ABC reported on Friday.

“I’m extremely pleased,” Palfreeman’s lawyer, Kalin Angelov, told the broadcaster. “Surprised in a very good way.”

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Palfreeman’s father, Simon Palfreeman, said the family hoped to be reunited him as soon as possible.

“It’s a funny feeling, because I think it’s been a long time coming,” Palfreeman told the ABC.

“Of course he’s not actually out yet, so we’re still waiting for that to happen, but this decision can’t be appealed so it’s a very good decision for Jock.”

He said the most likely outcome was that his son would go into immigration detention, before being deported back to Australia.

“That’s certainly what we’re hoping for, but that will become clearer over the next few days.”

Palfreeman left Australia to travel Europe when he was 19 and arrived in Bulgaria in 2006. He spent five months renovating a house in a town 50km from Sofia and reportedly began carrying pepper spray after he saw, and fell victim to, a number of assaults.

There was a spate of violent attacks against Romany people in Bulgaria in 2007. A 2013 profile of Palfreeman in the Sydney Morning Herald said he had previously intervened in an attack on a “Gypsy” man and he claimed he entered the brawl on 28 December 2007, to help two Roma who were being assaulted by a group of men, including Monov.

Monov’s parents were influential and a number of senior political figures, including the head of Bulgaria’s court of appeal, attended his funeral.

“It’s a long, long story, but basically there was never any doubt in my mind that what Jock did on that night was to go help that young Roma boy that had been beaten,” his father said.

Earlier this year Palfreeman went on hunger strike for 33 days in protest at the unfair treatment he said he had suffered for his role in the Bulgarian Prisoners’ Rehabilitation Association, the country’s first prisoner advocacy union.

Angelov said the hunger strike had been in response to Bulgarian authorities cracking down on the Australian for exposing corruption in the country’s prison system and the abuse of inmates.

Palfreeman is the eldest of three brothers who grew up in Sydney. He attended the prestigious St Ignatius College, Riverview, and campaigned on social justice causes as a student, including protests against the Iraq war.

The Riverview house master gave a character reference at his trial, saying he was “socially aware and prepared to speak out for what he felt was right.”

Palfreeman had left Bulgaria for England in late 2007 and joined the British Army in November, but had not had any weapons training. He returned to Bulgaria to celebrate Christmas. On the night of the brawl he had with him a knife that belonged to a friend.

• Australian Associated Press contributed to this story