Verdict expected in Taylor Swift concert attack plan trial

Wiener Neustadt: An Austrian court is expected to rule on Thursday in the trial of a 21-year-old man who has pleaded guilty to plotting a jihadist attack on a Taylor Swift concert.

The three Vienna dates in the US megastar's record-breaking "Eras" tour were cancelled in the summer of 2024 after authorities warned of the plot.

Accused of planning the attack and forming a cell of the Islamic State group, Beran A. went on trial last month on terror offences and other charges in a court in Wiener Neustadt, outside Vienna.


Read more: Taylor Swift’s surprise gift leaves young fan speechless after viral ‘Love Story’ moment-here's what the pop icon did

The defendant -- who was arrested the day before the cancelled concert and has been detained since -- pleaded guilty to all the charges except accomplice to attempted murder.

The jury is expected to deliver its verdict late Thursday after the trial wraps up earlier in the day with statements from two experts and closing arguments, according to Beran A.'s lawyer Anna Mair.

Beran A. faces up to 20 years in prison.

If he is acquitted of the charge of accomplice to attempted murder, he faces up to 10 years in prison, an "immense difference", Mair told AFP.

Another 21-year-old, Arda K., is also on trial.

The pair, together with a third Austrian, Hasan E., imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, are accused of forming a "highly dangerous IS terror cell" planning to carry out several attacks in the name of IS, prosecutors say.

Bomb-making instructions

In his testimony, Beran A. said he had become convinced that he "had to wage jihad", but was "afraid to die".

He told the court he had picked as his target the packed Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna during Swift's concert.

He detailed how he got instructions and tried to make a bomb but failed. He also sought advice on what weapons to choose in several chat groups and from a high-ranking IS member.

Beran A. is accused of having been a member of a terror organisation from 2023, prosecutors said.

By sharing IS propaganda through various messaging services and other offences, he participated and "openly aligned himself" with IS, they added.

He is also alleged to have been involved in other attack plans abroad, including encouraging Hasan E. to stab a security official in Mecca in 2024.

Hasan E. allegedly stabbed the official and injured four others before he was overpowered and detained. Beran A. has denied the accusation he encouraged the attack.

The Swift concert plot was thwarted with the help of US intelligence.

Read more: BTS beats Taylor Swift to win Artist of the Year at American Music Awards. Check the full winners list

Swift later wrote on social media that "the reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many had planned on coming to those shows".

Last year, a Berlin court convicted a Syrian teenager of contributing to the plot to attack the Swift concert.

The 16-year-old was given an 18-month suspended sentence.