Bulgaria's president refuses pardon to Michael Shields

Jan 11 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

BULGARIA’S president has once again refused to pardon jailed Liverpool football fan Michael Shields, his family confirmed last night.

The 21-year-old was sentenced in 2005, after a court found him guilty of hitting Bulgarian bartender Martin Georgiev with a paving stone, leaving him with brain damage.

Shields had been visiting the country after watching Liverpool win the 2005 Champions League final in neighbouring Turkey.

President Georgi Parvanov told British MEP Arlene McCarthy in a face-to-face meeting that he would not pardon the Liverpool supporter.

He agreed to a further meeting in the coming months during which Ms McCarthy will present evidence in favour of Shields which never featured in the original trial.

Last night, Liverpool city councillor Joe Anderson, a Shields family spokesman, said the outcome of the meeting was as they expected.

He said: “The President confirmed what we always knew and that was that the judicial result as it is in Bulgaria will stand for the time being.

“However, we do have hope in that he re-iterated the fact there does exist a mechanism for Michael to be pardoned under British law and he agreed to look at our evidence.”

In November, 2006, Shields was transferred to Britain to serve the remainder of his 10-year sentence.

The campaign has since focused its attention on winning over the UK Government in a bid to have the conviction pardoned at least in this country.

Buoyed by a successful lie detector test last November, the group plan to meet Justice Secretary Jack Straw in the next few weeks.

A statement from the president’s office said: “President Parvanov reiterated his firm position that he trusts the Bulgarian judiciary and will not advise (Bulgaria’s) Vice President Angel Marin to exercise his powers to grant a pardon.”

Later, Louise Ellman, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, who has been fronting the campaign at Westminster to secure a pardon for Shields, said: “I’m disappointed the President has restated the previous position, but this will not stop the campaign continuing.”