Taylor Swift concert attack suspect jailed for 15 years after being found guilty in Austrian court
An Austrian court on Thursday convicted a the man who planned to attack Taylor Swift's concert in Vienna about two years ago. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The federal court in Wiener Neustadt found the defendant, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen known only as Beran A., in accordance with Austrian privacy laws, with charges including those related to the concert, the Austria Press Agency reported.
His lawyer said he pleaded guilty related to the concert building during the opening of the case last month.
The concert plot was foiled, but Austrian authorities still canceled Swift's three concerts in August 2024.
In his final brief before the court adjourned to consider the decision on Thursday, Beran A. said: “I would like to say that I am sorry.”
Beran A. it is alleged that planned to target people outside the Ernst Happel stadium with knives or homemade explosives. Tens of thousands of Taylor Swift fans, known as Swifties, traveled to Austria to attend the American pop star's Eras Tour. Distraught by the cancellation, many gathered in the center of Vienna to trade friendship rings and have fun.
Beran A. is also said to have been in contact with members of the Islamic State group before the planned attack. Prosecutors said they discussed buying weapons and making bombs, and that the defendant wanted to buy weapons illegally in the days before the match, as well as swear allegiance to a militant group.
Authorities searched his house on Aug. 7, 2024, found materials to make bombs. The concerts were supposed to start the next day.
“The cancellation of our Vienna shows was devastating,” Swift wrote in a statement posted on Instagram two weeks later. “The reason the decision was overturned filled me with a new sense of dread, and a huge amount of guilt because so many people had planned to come to those games.”
He was tried along with Arda K., another 21-year-old whose full name has not been released. They, along with a third man, Hasan E., who was arrested and remains in pre-trial detention in Saudi Arabia, were said to be planning simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan 2024 on behalf of IS.
Only Beran A. was charged with the structure of the concert. The two suspects were found guilty of crimes including traveling and training for terrorist purposes, and being part of a terrorist organization, APA reported.
The court also found the two guilty of complicity in attempted murder, a crime related to Hasan E.'s alleged stabbing of a police officer in Mecca in March 2024. Hasan E. also attacked and injured three other police officers and a woman before he was arrested, according to prosecutors.
Arda K. was sentenced to 12 years. The two men listened intently to the verdict and sentence.
