Vienna Neustadt, AustriaAP —
A man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and was accused of planning to attack superstar singer Taylor Swift’s concert in Vienna nearly two years ago has pleaded guilty at the start of his trial on Tuesday, his lawyer said.
Although the plot was thwarted, Austrian authorities still canceled three of Swift’s performances in August 2024. Devastated Swift fans, who had flown to Austria from all over the world to attend performances on the singer’s record-breaking tour known as the Swifties, rallied to turn Vienna into a city-wide trading post for friendship bracelets and singalongs.
The defendant, a 21-year-old Austrian national known only as Beran A. in accordance with Austrian privacy rules, was charged with crimes including terrorist offenses and membership in a terrorist organization. He could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and has been in custody since August 2024.
The Vienna plot has been compared to the 2017 attack by a suicide bomber on an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, which killed 22 people. The bomb exploded at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of young fans were leaving the venue, making it Britain’s deadliest extremist attack in recent years.
His defense lawyer, Anna Mair, said her client had pleaded guilty to charges related to the concert conspiracy.
“Of course he deeply regrets everything,” Mair said outside the court. “He says it was the biggest mistake of his life, partly because of the long period of detention.”
Austrian media reported that he also pleaded guilty to being a member of a terrorist organization.
Beran A. is on trial along with Alda K., but his full name has not been made public. Together with a third man, they were planning simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan in 2024 under the name of Islamic State. Beran A. and Alda K. never carried out the attack.
Beran A. was the only person charged in connection with the concert conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the planned attack.
The suspect is said to have planned to target the crowd of spectators outside the Ernst Happel Stadium (up to 30,000 people each night, with an additional 65,000 inside) with knives and homemade explosives. The suspect wanted to “kill as many people as possible” in 2024, authorities said. The United States provided information that served as material for the decision to cancel the concert.
Beran A. also allegedly networked with other members of the Islamic State group prior to the planned attack. Prosecutors said the defendants had discussed buying weapons and making bombs, and that the defendant had also tried to buy weapons illegally in the days before the performance. Additionally, he pledged allegiance to the armed group.
Authorities searched his apartment on August 7, 2024 and found bomb-making materials. The concert was scheduled to begin the next day.
“It was devastating to see the Vienna show canceled,” Swift said in a statement posted to Instagram two weeks later. “When I learned the reason for the cancellation, I was filled with a new sense of dread and tremendous guilt, because so many people had planned to come to those shows.”
The trial is being held in Vienna Neustadt, about an hour south of Vienna. The lawsuit is scheduled to continue until May 12th.
Three attacks planned in Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and UAE
Prosecutors also indicted Arda K on terrorism-related charges in a trial related to plots for simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
The third man in the scheme, Hasan E., allegedly stabbed a security guard with a knife at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on March 11, 2024. He was arrested and remains in pre-trial detention in Saudi Arabia, according to Austrian prosecutors.
Beran A. and Arda K. did not carry out their plans in Türkiye and the UAE. Beran A. returned to Vienna, where he allegedly began planning to attack Swift’s concert there.
