An Austrian court on Thursday sentenced a 21-year-old who admitted planning a foiled Islamist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in 2024 to 15 years in prison, finding him guilty of various mainly terrorism-related offences.
Beran A, whose last name has not been made public in accordance with Austrian privacy rules, was arrested on August 7th, 2024, the day before the first of three planned concerts by the US pop star in the Austrian capital.
All three dates were then cancelled, to the dismay of fans and of Swift, who wrote afterwards that it was “devastating”.
Beran A, who is Austrian, pleaded guilty to charges related to the planned attack, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He covered his face with a ring binder as he entered the courtroom to avoid being identifiable in pictures.
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Prosecutors say he tried but failed to illegally buy weapons including a machine gun and hand grenade, and followed instructions in an Islamic State video posted online to make a small amount of the explosive triacetone triperoxide.
He was also accused at the same trial of plotting separately with two schoolfriends to carry out a solo attack each earlier in 2024 in separate Middle Eastern cities. He and co-defendant Arda K have admitted that they travelled to Dubai and Istanbul respectively to carry out attacks but then did not follow through.
They have denied, however, providing moral support to the third man, who was arrested in Mecca on suspicion of stabbing a security official at the holy city’s Grand Mosque. He is still in custody in Saudi Arabia. – Reuters
