Wiener Neustadt, Austria — Austrian media reported that a man accused of pledging allegiance to ISIS and planning to attack one of the famous singer Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna nearly two years ago pleaded guilty as his trial began on Tuesday.
The plot was foiled, but Austrian authorities canceled Swift’s three shows in August 2024. The singer’s fans, known as Swifties, who had traveled to Austria from around the world for a show of her record-setting Eras Tour, were shocked, but rallied to turn Vienna into a city-wide mall for friendship bracelets and her songs.
Austrian media outlets Kurier and Kronen Zeitung reported that he had pleaded guilty to charges related to the concert plot. It was not immediately clear what other charges he admitted to.
A defendant hides his face behind file folders on his way to the courtroom at the district court in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
AP Photos/Matthias Schrader
He confronted the defendant, a 21-year-old Austrian national known only as Beran A. In line with Austrian privacy rules, the charges include terrorist offenses and membership in a terrorist organisation, and his defense lawyer previously said he intended to plead guilty to most charges. He could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
He is facing trial alongside Arda K, whose full name has also not been made public. They, along with a third man, were planning to carry out simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan in 2024 in the name of ISIS. Biran A. did not implement it. And Arda K. Their attacks never happened.
Only Biran A. He was charged in connection with the Taylor Swift conspiracy.
He allegedly planned to target spectators gathered outside Ernst Happel Stadium — up to 30,000 each night, with another 65,000 inside the stadium — with knives or homemade explosives. In 2024, authorities said the suspect hoped to “kill as many people as possible.” The United States provided intelligence information that fueled the decision to cancel the concerts.
It is also alleged that Biran A. He was in contact with other ISIS members before the planned attack. Prosecutors say they discussed buying guns and making bombs, and that the defendant also sought to buy weapons illegally in the days leading up to the show. In addition, he swore allegiance to the armed group.
Authorities searched his apartment on August 7, 2024 and found bomb-making materials. The parties were scheduled to start the next day.
“The cancellation of our shows in Vienna was devastating,” Swift wrote in a statement posted on Instagram two weeks later. “The reason for the cancellation filled me with a new sense of fear, and an enormous amount of guilt because so many people had planned to come to those shows.”
The trial is being held in Wiener Neustadt, about an hour south of Vienna. The proceedings are scheduled to continue on May 12.
Three attacks were planned in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates
Prosecutors also filed terrorism charges against Arda K. On trial in connection with the plan for simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
The third man in that plot, Hassan E., allegedly stabbed a security guard with a knife at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on March 11, 2024. Austrian prosecutors said he was arrested and remains in pretrial detention in Saudi Arabia.
Biran A. did not implement it. And Arda K. Their plans in Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates. Beran A. returned to Vienna and then allegedly began planning to attack Swift’s concert there.
The Vienna plot has drawn comparisons to the 2017 suicide attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, which killed 22 people. The bomb exploded at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of young fans were leaving, becoming the deadliest extremist attack in the UK in recent years.
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