A person accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and plotting to attack one in every of superstar singer Taylor Swift’s concert events in Vienna nearly two years ago pleaded guilty as his trial began on Tuesday, his lawyer said.
The plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still canceled Swift’s three performances in August 2024. The singer’s fans, often called Swifties, who had flown to Austria from across the globe to attend a performance of her record-setting Eras Tour were devastated, but rallied to show Vienna right into a citywide trading post for friendship bracelets and singalongs.
The defendant, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen known only as Beran A. in lFine with Austrian privacy rules, faced charges including terrorist offenses and membership in a terrorist organization. He may very well be sentenced to as much as 20 years in prison, and has been in custody since August 2024.
The Vienna plot drew comparisons to a 2017 attack by a suicide bomber at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people. The bomb detonated at the tip of Grande’s concert as 1000’s of young fans were leaving, becoming the deadliest extremist attack in the UK in recent times.
Defendant regrets his actions
Anna Mair, his defense attorney, said her client pleaded guilty to the costs related to the concert plot.
“After all, he deeply regrets all of it,” Mair said outside the court, adding that “he says it was the most important mistake of his life.”
Get each day National news
Get each day Canada news delivered to your inbox so you will never miss the day’s top stories.
Austrian media reported that he also pleaded guilty to being a member of a terrorist organization.
Beran A. is facing trial alongside Arda K., whose full name also has not been made public. They, together with a 3rd man, planned to perform simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan in 2024 within the name of the Islamic State group. Beran A. and Arda K. never carried out their attacks.
Only Beran A. was charged in reference to the concert plot. He pleaded not guilty to the costs related to the plot for simultaneous attacks.
He allegedly planned to focus on onlookers gathered outside Ernst Happel Stadium — as much as 30,000 each night, with one other 65,000 contained in the venue — with knives or homemade explosives. The suspect hoped to “kill as many individuals as possible,” authorities said in 2024. The U.S. provided intelligence that fed into the choice to cancel the concert events.
Beran A. also allegedly networked with other members of the Islamic State group ahead of the planned attack. Prosecutors say they discussed purchasing weapons and making bombs, and that the defendant also sought to illegally buy weapons in the times ahead of the performance. As well as, he swore allegiance to the militant group.
Authorities searched his apartment on Aug. 7, 2024, and located bomb-making materials. The concert events were scheduled to start the subsequent day.
“Having our Vienna shows canceled was devastating,” Swift wrote in an announcement posted to Instagram two weeks later. “The explanation for the cancellations filled me with a brand new sense of fear, and an incredible amount of guilt because so many individuals had planned on coming to those shows.”
The trial is being held in Wiener Neustadt, about an hour south of Vienna. The proceedings are set to proceed May 12.
Three attacks planned in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and UAE
Prosecutors have also filed terrorism-related charges against Arda K. within the trial in reference to the plan for simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
The third man in that plot, Hasan E., allegedly stabbed a security guard with a knife on the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on March 11, 2024. He was arrested and stays in pretrial detention in Saudi Arabia, Austrian prosecutors said.
Beran A. and Arda K. didn’t perform their plans in Turkey and the UAE. Beran A. returned to Vienna after which allegedly began plotting to attack a Swift concert there.
© 2026 The Canadian Press