A man accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and plotting an attack on one of Taylor Swift’s Vienna concerts in 2024 pleaded guilty as his trial opened, Austrian media reported.
Authorities canceled Swift’s three August 2024 performances after intelligence — including information from the United States — indicated a credible threat. Fans who had traveled from around the world were devastated but turned Vienna into a citywide gathering of friendship bracelets and singalongs.
Austrian outlets Kurier and Kronen Zeitung reported the defendant, a 21-year-old Austrian identified only as Beran A. under local privacy rules, admitted guilt on charges tied to the concert plot. He faces terrorism-related charges including membership in a terrorist organization and could be sentenced to as long as 20 years in prison. His defense attorney, Anna Mair, told The Associated Press her client planned to plead guilty to most charges but did not specify which ones.
Beran A. is on trial alongside another suspect identified as Arda K.; both, along with a third man, allegedly planned simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan in 2024. Only Beran A. was charged in connection with the Vienna concert plot. Prosecutors say the three never carried out those wider plans.
Prosecutors allege Beran A. intended to target crowds outside Ernst Happel Stadium — up to 30,000 people outside each night, with some 65,000 inside — using knives or homemade explosives and hoped to “kill as many people as possible.” Investigators say he networked with other Islamic State members, discussed buying weapons and making bombs, and sought to illegally purchase arms in the days before the shows. Authorities searched his apartment on Aug. 7, 2024, finding bomb-making materials; the concerts were due to begin the next day.
The trial is taking place in Wiener Neustadt, about an hour south of Vienna, with proceedings set to continue on May 12.
Prosecutors have also charged Arda K. in connection with the plan for simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the UAE. The third man, identified as Hasan E., allegedly stabbed a security guard at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on March 11, 2024; he was arrested and remains in pretrial detention in Saudi Arabia.
The Vienna plot drew comparisons to the 2017 suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, which killed 22 people when a bomb detonated as fans were leaving. Swift, reacting to the Vienna cancellations in an Instagram statement two weeks later, called the cancellations “devastating,” said the reason for them filled her with fear, and expressed guilt for the many people who had planned to attend.
