Just reading about this prolonged travesty of justice, (in terms of the attitude of the git and the light sentence the twat got) makes my blood boil. That scum is making a mockery of true justice in terms of what he left behind in Bulagria. The whole saga of this case disgusts me and was one of the reasons I abandon the UK, because of the scum like Michael Shields. He should have served his justified sentence in Bulgaria and a line drawn under it. But no, these types of Brits think they are immune to what violence and havoc they present abroad and think they can walk away. Jack Straw should be even stronger in his words and categorically confirm his sentence in the UK now will run its course. All he has said is that this is provisional decision! What a whimp! If the punishment is tough enough this will cure these sick twats who make me embarrassed to be English. Also, bloody defence lawyers trying to squeeze blood out of a stone in this case also make me sick! I don’t know how they can sleep at nights. One day perhaps they might take a dictionary and look up what the word justice means.
Martin Georgiev the victim and his family are serving a life sentence right now with no early release. That's not justice.
If you want more evidence that the British are even more bias look at the most recent link here http://news.bbc.co.uk, they even have an angelic picture of the criminal. Such an obvious provocation detracting of the real truth! It really does make me sick to be associated with this as an Englishman.
Martin Georgiev the victim and his family are serving a life sentence right now with no early release. That's not justice.
If you want more evidence that the British are even more bias look at the most recent link here http://news.bbc.co.uk, they even have an angelic picture of the criminal. Such an obvious provocation detracting of the real truth! It really does make me sick to be associated with this as an Englishman.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has provisionally ruled out granting a pardon to a Liverpool football fan jailed by a Bulgarian court for an attempted murder he denies, his department said on Thursday. Michael Shields was convicted in July 2005 of smashing a rock over the head of bartender Martin Georgiev during a street brawl in the Golden Sands resort.
He was convicted in Bulgaria but transferred to a British prison to finish his 10-year sentence.
In December, the High Court ruled that Straw had the "power and jurisdiction" to exercise the ancient "royal prerogative of mercy" to pardon Shields, who has always maintained his innocence.
But Straw said he had provisionally decided to turn down Shields' appeal.
Straw said in order to pardon Shields he had to be satisfied that the Liverpool fan was "morally and technically innocent".
"This is a very high test and the Justice Secretary has provisionally concluded that on the evidence he currently has, that test is not met," the Ministry of Justice said in a statement.
"The Justice Secretary recognises, of course, that many will be disappointed by his decision. But in exercising this quasi-judicial function, he has adopted the approach that the Court expected him to adopt."
The statement said Straw would take further representations from Shields before making a final decision.
Shields' lawyer John Weate has argued the case was "perhaps the most shocking miscarriage of justice in recent times".
The barman was attacked a few nights after Liverpool's European Cup final victory in Istanbul, Turkey.
Fair Trials International (FTI), which has campaigned for Shields's release saying his conviction was based solely on identification evidence with no supporting testimony, urged Straw to reconsider his verdict.
"Jack Straw's decision has condemned an innocent young man to serve yet more time in jail for another's crime," said Jago Russell, chief executive of FTI.
Another fan, not an associate of Shields, faxed a confession to Bulgarian officials, which he later retracted, saying he had committed the crime and that Shields was innocent.
But the court rejected it, saying the details of his account conflicted with testimony from nine witnesses who saw the assault and identified Shields as the attacker.