A Sydney man arrested in Bulgaria on terrorism charges claims he was coerced into going to a shooting range by a Bulgarian man he'd only just met.
John Zakhariev, 21, was arrested following a raid on the home he shared with his retired UN diplomat father, Svetlomir, in Sofia in September.
The former Waverley College student travelled to Syria in 2013, the year after he graduated, with the help of two Sydney extremists who went on to die while fighting for Islamic State.
He left after eight days and was investigated by ASIO before travelling to Bulgaria for a short trip in 2016 to help Svetlomir move back to his homeland to retire.
Fairfax Media revealed on Monday that Bulgarian prosecutors allege Mr Zakhariev tried to join a terrorist group in Syria but was knocked back due to a lack of combat training.
They allege he returned to Australia to skill himself before heading to Bulgaria because training would be cheaper there.
Much of the case hinges on five trips Mr Zakhariev made to legal shooting ranges in Bulgaria in five weeks around July.
His lawyer, Hristo Botev, said his client didn't visit a shooting range in his first four months in Sofia.
A friend named Peter Petrov, who Mr Zakhariev met through a family member from his father's first marriage, invited him to go shooting.
In a letter written from prison, Mr Zakhariev said he now fears Mr Petrov was "a police provocateur who was sent to befriend me".
"My client ... never went alone and Peter would always call or text beforehand asking him to come shooting," Mr Botev said. "When Peter stopped calling or texting he stopped going."
Prosecutors claim Mr Zakhariev visited firing ranges up until the day before he was arrested yet Mr Botev said the evidence shows his last visit was August 11.
He labelled the allegation that Mr Zakhariev was training to join Islamic State "absurd" and the case was "a poorly attempted entrapment operation by the police in order to justify the millions they have received from Brussels to fight against terrorism".
On Monday, Waverley College acting head Graham Leddie sent a note to parents describing Mr Zakhariev as an "ordinary student" and saying the school was "saddened by the allegations".
"While we don't have all the facts about the current situation, it is fair to say that young men often have questions and challenges that they go through, and sometimes they make choices that we don't understand," he wrote.
Mr Zakhariev faces a difficult battle in Bulgaria, where the judicial system is perceived to be the most corrupt institution in the country, according to the Council of Europe's Group of States Against Corruption.
He is housed in Sofia's maximum security prison alongside Sydney man Jock Palfreeman, who is serving 20 years for murder in a case marred by tainted evidence.
In a 2011 research paper comparing four Australians locked up abroad - David Hicks, Stern Hu, Scott Rush and Jock Palfreeman - Macquarie University law professor, Naomi Klein, noted that Australia and Bulgaria shared the fewest ties or mutual interests.
"As a consequence, there are few incentives to act only for the sake of one individual," she wrote.
[optional cut]However, international law expert Christopher Michaelsen??? said Bulgaria generally upholds its obligation under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to guarantee a fair trial.
"From a political perspective, what the Australian government could do is simply appeal to the Bulgarian government to adhere not only to the standard of the ECHR but the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," said Dr Michaelsen, an associate professor at Macquarie University.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said Mr Zakhariev was receiving consular assistance.
In a letter sent to parents on Monday,
