A man accused of planning a mass-casualty attack tied to Taylor Swift’s 2024 Vienna shows pleaded guilty as his trial began Tuesday, nearly two years after the concerts were abruptly scrapped. The 21-year-old Austrian, identified only as Beran A under local privacy rules, faced terrorism and terror-organization charges carrying a possible 20-year sentence. “He pleads guilty to all except attempted murder,” his lawyer told AFP. According to the BBC, the man prosecutors said had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State also denied links to other planned attacks. He’s accused of working with two others to plan simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, reports the AP.
Prosecutors say Beran A discussed weapons and bomb-making with alleged ISIS members, and aimed to attack the huge crowds outside Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium with knives or homemade explosives, hoping to kill “as many people as possible.” US intelligence reportedly informed the decision to cancel three August 2024 shows, which had been set to draw about 95,000 people per night inside and outside the venue. Police said a search of his home on August 7, a day before the concerts were to start, turned up bomb-making materials.
Beran A faces trial alongside an alleged accomplice, Arda K. A man identified as Arda K was accused in a stabbing attack in Turkey around the time of Swift’s planned Austrian concerts. Beran A and Arda K allegedly encouraged a third man identified as Hasan E, now imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, before he carried out a stabbing attack in Mecca in 2024, per AFP. Reports suggest Beran A had also been involved in planning a Dubai terrorist attack but pulled out five months before the Austrian plot, per the Times of London. He allegedly later made contact with a Syrian teenager living in Germany, named as Mohammed A, who was previously handed an 18-month suspended sentence for involvement in the Austrian plot. He is reportedly expected to testify against Beran A.
