A 21-year-old Austrian man has admitted to plotting an attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in 2024.
Named only as Beran A, the man was arrested after a tip-off from the CIA shortly before Swift brought her massive ‘Eras Tour’ to the city in 2024. Police searched his house at the time and found an almost completed bomb (as per BBC News).
The pop star cancelled all three sold-out nights at the Ernst Happl Stadium as a result – where more than 195,000 people were expected to attend in total.
Beran A has now been brought into a courtroom to face charges of terrorism and other offences, and admitted to being part of a terrorist organisation. He admitted to planning an attack at the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna in 2024, but denied other charges including planning an attack in the Islamic holy city of Mecca.
He stood trial with another 21-year-old man named Arda K, who is also accused of being part of an Islamic State cell. They are both accused of planning attacks in Istanbul and Dubai, as well as in Mecca.
Prosecutors alleged that Beran A started planning the foiled attack in Vienna around July 21. He was arrested on August 7, one day before the first scheduled concert.
He is also accused of declaring allegiance to jihadist group Islamic State, spreading online propaganda online, making explosives, and attempting to purchase weapons illegally.
The indictment suggests he may have also found instructions online on how to make a shrapnel bomb, and prosecutors accuse him of both having received training from other IS members on how to handle explosives, as well as attempting to purchase firearms from illegal dealers.
His defence lawyer, Anna Mair, told the court (via BBC News): “My client has caused a great deal of fear and panic among many people, and he will have to answer for that, no question. But please try to look beyond the headlines.”
The two men were teenagers at time of the planned attack, and each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Swift commented on the cancellations in 2024, calling them “devastating” but adding that she was “grateful to the authorities because, thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives”.
Last summer, a teenager in Germany was given an 18-month suspended sentence for helping to prepare the attempted attack at the Vienna gigs.
The teenager, a Syrian national identified as “Mohammed A”, was indicted on charges of supporting a foreign terror group and helping another suspect plan a terrorist attack.