- Title: Verdict delayed in trial of Australian-Bulgarian terror suspect
- Date: 16th May 2017
- Summary: SOFIA, BULGARIA (MAY 16, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF SPECIAL COURT SIGN READING: "SPECIALISED CRIMINAL COURT" EXTERIOR OF COURT MEDIA IN COURTROOM PEOPLE IN COURT DEFENCE LAWYER LOOKING AT PAPERS DEFENDANT ENTERING COURTROOM JOURNALISTS DEFENCE LAWYER TALKING TO DEFENDANT VISITORS, JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOHN ZAKHARIEV, DEFENDANT, SAYING: "I think I will be definitely facing a guilty verdict, now how many years I am going to receive, I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if I was to receive the maximum." VISITORS IN COURTROOM (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOHN ZAKHARIEV, DEFENDANT, SAYING: "Well, I would ask our government to possibly do something to aid me, perhaps, when I am sentenced to send me back to Australia, so that even I am in prison there I can actually do things to pass the time. So I will make this appeal to the Australian authorities to actually do something to aid me, and I think they have a moral obligation to do so, because it was ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) that actually sold me to Bulgaria in the first place." JOURNALISTS LEAVING COURTROOM, DOOR BEING CLOSED SECURITY CAMERA AT ENTRANCE POLICE VEHICLE TAKING DEFENDANT BACK TO PRISON
- Embargoed: 30th May 2017 17:18
- Keywords: terrorism charges Bulgaria Australia Zakhariev
- Location: SOFIA, BULGARIA
- City: SOFIA, BULGARIA
- Country: Bulgaria
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA0016H38FND
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:A verdict in the case of Australian-Bulgarian citizen John Zakhariev, will be given on June 5, lawyers for the defendant said on Tuesday (May 16).
The 21-year-old is on trial in the Bulgarian capital on charges of attempting to join a terrorist group in Syria.
"I think I will be definitely facing a guilty verdict, now how many years I am going to receive, I do not know, but it wouldn't surprise me if I was to receive the maximum," Zakhariev said from the courtroom.
Zakhariev appealed to the Australian state, saying if he is jailed in Bulgaria, Australia had a moral duty to help him transfer and serve his term in an Australian prison. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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