Goals
Time period
Country
Location City/State/Province
Location Description
Methods in 1st segment
Methods in 2nd segment
Methods in 3rd segment
- Thousands of people signed a petition to the Bulgarian government demanding Jock and other prisoners be allowed to study while imprisoned.
Methods in 4th segment
- Thousands of people signed a petition to the Bulgarian government demanding Jock and other prisoners be allowed to study while imprisoned.
Methods in 5th segment
- Thousands of people signed a petition to the Bulgarian government demanding Jock and other prisoners be allowed to study while imprisoned.
Methods in 6th segment
- Thousands of people signed a petition to the Bulgarian government demanding Jock and other prisoners be allowed to study while imprisoned.
Segment Length
Leaders
Partners
External allies
Involvement of social elites
Opponents
Nonviolent responses of opponent
Campaigner violence
Repressive Violence
Cluster
Classification
Group characterization
Groups in 1st Segment
Segment Length
Success in achieving specific demands/goals
Survival
Growth
Total points
Database Narrative
On 28 December 2007, Australian Jock Palfreeman was in downtown Sofia, Bulgaria, with some friends when he witnessed a young man being attacked by what he believed were football hooligans. Palfreeman chose to help the man, and suddenly found himself fighting a few men after they turned on him. Jock and two attackers fought, and when the dust settled, one of the attackers was fatally wounded and the other was severely wounded.
Police arrived on the scene and took Palfreeman into custody, questioned him, and put him into detention. After a lengthy trial process, Bulgarian courts found Palfreeman guilty of murder, and sentenced him to 20 years in prison in Bulgaria’s federal prison located in Sofia.
A self-described anti-fascist, Palfreeman was a student before his sentence, and sought to continue his studies from inside the prison in Bulgaria. However, due to his involvement in the Bulgarian Prisoner’s Association, Palfreeman was denied access to education in prison.
Seeking to challenge the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice, Palfreeman decided to go on a hunger strike on 13 January 2013, until his demands were met. Palfreeman believed he should be able to continue his studies, regardless of whether or not he was in prison. With Palfreeman’s help, his friends and family back home in Australia organized a website that included a link to a mass petition. People around the world could sign this petition and send to Diana Kovacheva, the Bulgarian justice minister, calling on her to grant Palfreeman’s demand of continuing his education.
On 12 February 2013, Palfreeman ended his hunger strike when he received a response from a Bulgarian prison coordinator. The coordinator responded that while in Bulgarian prison, Palfreeman was only allowed to study in a university in Bulgaria. However, Bulgarian prisons would not accept a student who was in prison, so he was not permitted to continue his studies.
Palfreeman lost a total of 20 kilograms from his month-long hunger strike, but was denied access to education while in detention in Sofia.
Sources
FREE JOCK. 2013. 27 April 2013 <http://www.freejock.com/>.
Malatesta's Blog. 14 February 2013. 28 April 2013 <http://malatesta32.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/a-letter-fromjock-palfreeman-anti-fascist-prisoner-on-hunger-strike/>.