Jock Palfreeman still locked up despite early release

Australian man Jock Palfreeman will spend another night in a Bulgarian detention centre after local authorities successfully blocked his release.

The 32-year-old was granted early parole last Friday after serving 11 years of a 20-year sentence for fatally stabbing Bulgarian law student Andrei Monov, 23, during a brawl in the capital Sofia in 2007.

However, Palfreeman had to wait for an emergency passport to be issued before he could return home to Australia.

9News understands the passport was granted five days ago, but the chief prosecutor put forward an application to have him returned to jail.

"They're still keeping him here and I asked until when and he said that he doesn't know because the prosecutor, the chief prosecutor is keeping him," Palfreeman's friend Jana Tsoneva said.

"It's like a concentration camp. You're being held for no reason, with no conviction … basically no reason."

Palfreeman has consistently maintained he acted in self defence that night after intervening to prevent Mr Monov and a group of friends from attacking two Roma, or gypsy, men.

During his 2009 trial, he pleaded not guilty to stabbing Mr Monov to death and the facts of the crime are still disputed.

The verdict and sentence was upheld in subsequent appeals to higher courts.

It is unclear if the Department of Foreign Affairs is assisting Palfreeman, but news of his ongoing detention could create tension between Australia and Bulgaria.