John "Ivan" Zahariev, a dual Australian-Bulgarian citizen, had a Christian upbringing in Australia, but later converted to Islam. Sofia's Special Criminal Court found him guilty of training as a terrorist with the intention of carrying out a terrorist act.
Mr Zahariev has been in custody since September, when he was arrested for training at shooting ranges in Bulgaria with the alleged intention of going to Syria to join jihadi groups. However, he insists he's innocent:
"I would like to say that I am 100 per cent innocent from the charges. I think that's been proven in the course of seven months of the court proceedings. They have not proven one time that I intended to return to Syria. They've provided no evidence that I went shooting with the intention of going back to Syria, nor have they provided any evidence to show that links or sympathies with ISIS or Daesh. And like I said nothing more could be expected from a country which runs show trials and which denied me even the chance to have a defence in court."
