Jock Palfreeman wearing a black shirt: Jock Palfreeman stabbed a man to death in Bulgaria in 2007, but insists it was an act of self-defence. (ABC News: Andrew Greaves) © Provided by ABC NEWS Jock Palfreeman stabbed a man to death in Bulgaria in 2007, but insists it was an act of self-defence. (ABC News: Andrew Greaves) Coronavirus might have played a part in thwarting an attempt by Australian Jock Palfreeman to leave Bulgaria to attend the European Parliament.

Mr Palfreeman had been invited to go to Brussels on Thursday to speak at an event titled: Prisoners in Europe: A discussion on inhumane conditions in EU jails.

But the Parliament's President David Sassoli closed the institution on Tuesday to try to stem any further spread of coronavirus, leading to the cancellation of more than 100 events.

Pictures: COVID-19 outbreak around the world

Mr Palfreeman, who has been in limbo in Bulgaria since his release from prison last September, told the ABC his planned visit had been "postponed because of coronavirus".

His morning session was described as a talk on "solitary confinement in Bulgaria".

It was not clear, however, that he would have been allowed out of the country in the first place.

His passport has been confiscated by the state, ever since former prosecutor-general Sotir Tsatsarov launched a highly irregular appeal to the Court of Cassation to have Mr Palfreeman returned to jail and his case reopened.

Under Bulgarian law, the Court of Cassation has no jurisdiction over parole matters, and the Sydneysider is technically a free man.

There is currently no legal order which prevents him from leaving the country. But after the court agreed to hear the case, he was forced to give up the temporary passport he'd been issued.

Mr Palfreeman said the Australian Government had declined to issue him a replacement, pending the court's decision.

Asked whether he would have been granted permission to cross the border, Mr Palfreeman said: "Legally, yes, but practically, no."

The case has appalled jurists and human rights defenders across Europe.

The Court of Cassation has yet to deliver its decision, five months after it heard the Government's appeal.

It had promised a decision within eight weeks.

In January, an obsolete travel ban, which dated back to 2011, was also formally overturned by the Sofia Administrative Court.

In a post to his Facebook account, Mr Palfreeman said the Interior Ministry "continued to violate my rights by not allowing me to travel abroad, even to Brussels".

Mr Palfreeman served 11 years in a maximum-security jail over the stabbing death of a local student but was released on parole last September.

He was then detained in an immigration detention facility on the outskirts of Sofia until mid-October.

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