The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund has launched a crowd-funding campaign for Australian Jock Palfreeman, who is fighting Bulgaria’s effort to expel him from the country and the European Union.
Palfreeman was unjustly imprisoned in Bulgaria in 2007 on trumped up charges, after he went to the aid of two Roma boys who were being attacked by a gang of Nazi hooligans. He was also attacked, but later charged with the murder of one of the attackers.
In a sham trial, in which Bulgarian authorities withheld video evidence that would have proven Palfreeman’s claims of self-defence and exonerated him, Palfreeman was wrongly convicted and sentenced to 20 years’ jail. He was suddenly released in 2019, after serving 12 years.
However, the Bulgarian authorities seized his passport, refusing to allow him to leave the country, and appealed his release. He beat this unconstitutional attempt to re-convict him.
Now, Bulgarian authorities are trying to expel and ban him from Bulgaria and the EU, based on the sham murder conviction.
Palfreeman is again being forced to defend himself — this time in an EU court. The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund, a not-for-profit collective, is helping him raise funds to mount a good defence and has launched the crowdfunding campaign at Palfreeman’s behest.