A 21-year-old Austrian citizen, identified as Beran A., has been convicted of plotting a jihadist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in August 2024. The plot was thwarted, leading to the cancellation of three shows. Beran A. pleaded guilty to charges related to the concert plot and being part of a terrorist organization, but denied other charges, including involvement in planning an attack in Mecca. He faces up to 20 years in prison. The trial also involved Arda K. from Slovakia and Hasan E., who remains in pretrial detention in Saudi Arabia for a separate stabbing attack. Taylor Swift stated the concert narrowly 'dodged a massacre situation' after the CIA foiled the bomb plot. Authorities found bomb-making materials in Beran A.'s apartment before the concerts.
A man has today been convicted of plotting a jihadist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in August 2024. The defendant, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen known only as Beran A. in line with Austrian privacy rules, was found guilty on charges including those related to the concert threat.
Though the concert plot was thwarted, Austrian authorities still cancelled three more shows of her record-breaking 'Eras' tour after they were warned of the plan by the so-called Islamic State group. The defendant, who faces up to 20 years in prison, told the Austrian court on Thursday that he was sorry, ahead of the verdict in his trial.
His defence lawyer said he had pleaded guilty to the charges related to the concert plot, and of 'being part of a terrorist organisation' on the first day of the trial last month, but denied other charges, including involvement in planning an attack in the Islamic holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Beran A. allegedly planned to target people outside the Ernst Happel Stadium with knives or homemade explosives.
Tens of thousands of Taylor Swift fans, known as Swifties, had travelled to Austria to attend the performances of the American singer's record-setting Eras Tour. Devastated by the cancellations, many gathered in central Vienna to trade friendship bracelets and commiserate about the cancellations. Beran A. also allegedly networked with other members of the Islamic State group ahead of the planned attack.
The Eras Tour tour narrowly 'dodged a massacre situation' due to the CIA foiling the plot, Taylor Swift said Austrian defendant identified as Beran A, suspected of planning an attack on US singer Taylor Swift's Vienna concert in 2024, is escorted by security personnel in a courtroom for his trial in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, May 28 The concert plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still canceled Swift's three performances in August 202 Prosecutors have said they discussed purchasing weapons and making bombs, and that the defendant also sought to illegally buy weapons in the days ahead of the performance, as well as swearing allegiance to the militant group.
He was on trial alongside Arda K. from Slovakia, whose full name also has not been made public. They, along with a third man called Hasan E., who they went to school with, were accused of planning to carry out simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan 2024 in the name of IS.
Hasan E. was arrested and remains in pretrial detention in Saudi Arabia after he was accused of stabbing a security guard and four other people in Mecca. Only Beran A. was charged in connection with the concert plot. He pleaded not guilty to the charges related to the plot for simultaneous attacks. In closing arguments Thursday at the state court in Wiener Neustadt, south of Vienna, prosecutors called for the men's conviction, the Austria Press Agency reported.
But Beran A.'s defence lawyer, Anna Mair, used her closing argument to urge the jury to acquit Beran of the charge of encouraging Hasan over the stabbing, arguing there was no evidence.
'Beran is not a leader, he is not an ideological mastermind,' she said. 'My client is not innocent; he has committed serious crimes. But you can only convict him for what he has done,' she said. In short final words to the court before it adjourned to consider a verdict, Beran A. said: 'I would just like to say that I am sorry.
' Taylor Swift - one of the globe's biggest superstars - found out about the bomb plot in Vienna when she was on the plane to Austria, according to a documentary on the Eras Tour. She said the concert narrowly 'dodged a massacre situation' when the CIA identified a plot to explode a bomb at the venue.
'Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating,' Swift wrote in a statement posted to Instagram two weeks after. 'The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. ' Authorities searched Beran A.'s apartment on August 7, 2024, and found bomb-making materials. The concerts were scheduled to begin the next day.
Fans gathered with their bracelets in August2024 even though the concerts were cancelled Austrian police officers watched a gathering of Swift fans in the city center in Vienna on August 8, 2024 The Vienna plot drew comparisons to a 2017 attack by a suicide bomber at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people. The bomb detonated at the end of Grande's concert as thousands of young fans were leaving, becoming the deadliest extremist attack in the United Kingdom in recent years.
Beran A. allegedly planned to target onlookers gathered outside Ernst Happel Stadium - up to 30,000 each night, with another 65,000 inside the venue - with knives or homemade explosives. The suspect hoped to 'kill as many people as possible,' authorities said in 2024. The US provided intelligence that fed into the decision to cancel the concerts.
In comments outside the court in April, Mair said: 'Of course, he deeply regrets it all,' adding that 'he says it was the biggest mistake of his life.
' Prosecutors described how Beran A. had become radicalised and said he tried but did not succeed in buying weapons illegally, including a machine gun and a hand grenade. Court psychiatrist Peter Hoffmann said that the defendant had showed no signs of mental illness, adding that there was 'no psychiatric explanation' for his radicalisation.
The prosecutor had told the jury they had the opportunity to send a message that 'anyone who prepared a terrorist attack should face consequences' and he called for a guilty verdict on all counts. In his testimony last month, Beran A. said he had become convinced that he 'had to wage jihad' but was 'afraid to die'. He told the court he picked the packed Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna during Swift's concert as a target.
He detailed how he got instructions and tried but failed to make a bomb. He also sought advice on what weapons to choose in several chat groups and from a high-ranking IS member. Last year, a Berlin court convicted a Syrian teenager of contributing to the plot to attack the Swift concert. The 16-year-old was given an 18-month suspended sentence.
Taylor Swift Concert Attack Plot Beran A. Convicted Vienna Eras Tour Cancellation Islamic State Terrorist Plot Terrorism Trial Austria
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