Austrian man guilty, sentenced to 15 years in Taylor Swift terror plot

by · UPI

May 28 (UPI) -- A 21-year-old Austrian man on Thursday was found guilty of planning a terrorist attack on a 2024 Taylor Swift concert in Vienna and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The man, identified in court only as Beran A., drew the sentence after being found guilty of more than a dozen charges, most of which were terrorism-related, at the Wiener Neustadt Regional Court, Austrian broadcaster ORF reported.

A co-defendant, Arda K., received a 12-year sentence on similar charges in connection with the August 2024 incident, in which Swift was forced to cancel a planned show at Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna.

The two were found guilty of attempted murder, traveling for terrorist purposes, training for terrorist purposes, terrorist association and criminal organization by a jury, which needed 6 1/2 hours of deliberations to reach its verdict.

Related

Beran A. and Arda K. had pleaded guilty to the majority of the charges against them.

In closing arguments, prosecutors alleged the pair along with another man had originally planned to carry out three simultaneous attacks on behalf of ISIS targeting police officers or security personnel in Mecca, Istanbul and Dubai on March 11, 2024.

But when those plans fell through, the two confessed they then returned to Vienna and subsequently hatched a plan for an attack at the Taylor Swift concert.

Prosecutors described Beran A., who was 19 at the time of crimes, as an Austrian man with roots in North Macedonia, German broadcaster ARD reported.

They said he planned to attack a crowd of people in front of Ernst Happel Stadium and then kill himself, manufacturing a small quantity of the explosives using instructions from the Internet as part of the plan.

Authorities said he also attempted to purchase weapons such as a machine gun and a hand grenade.

Swift's Vienna concerts, part of her 2024 Eras Tour, were expected to draw 65,000 fans each night, with an additional 10,000 to 15,000 expected outside of the arena, police said.

Taylor Swift's career: Music, awards, red carpets

Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performs at the 41st annual Country Music Association Awards in Nashville on November 7, 2007. File Photo by Frederick Breedon/UPI | License Photo