Austrian sentenced to 15 years for planning attack on Taylor Swift concert – POLITICO

An Austrian court has sentenced a 21-year-old man to 15 years in prison for planning a jihadist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in 2024.

A jury of a court in Wiener Neustadt late Thursday found Beran A., an Austrian citizen of North Macedonian descent, guilty of attempted murder, membership in a terrorist cell and other terrorist crimes. His surname is abbreviated under Austria’s privacy rules.

Beran A. confessed to planning the attack and said he considered blowing himself up like the suicide bomber in the 2017 attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester that killed 22 people. He also admitted to having been a supporter of Islamic State. A court spokesperson confirmed to POLITICO that police found an “almost completed, but not highly explosive,” bomb in his apartment.