Highlights
- 21-year-old Beran A. sentenced to 15 years in prison.
- Co-defendant Arda K. sentenced to 12 years in prison.
- Plot targeted Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna in 2024.
- Police found an almost completed but not highly explosive bomb.
- CIA tip led Austrian police to arrest before planned attack.
An Austrian court has sentenced a 21-year-old man to 15 years in prison for planning a jihadist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in 2024. The court in Wiener Neustadt delivered the verdict on Thursday (28).
The man, identified as Beran A., is an Austrian citizen of North Macedonian descent. His surname was shortened under Austrian privacy rules. He was found guilty of attempted murder, membership in a terrorist cell, and other terrorist crimes.
A co-defendant, Arda K. from Slovakia, received a 12-year prison sentence. Prosecutors said he was not directly involved in the planned attack on the Taylor Swift concert. However, they said he and Beran A. talked about possible future attacks in other cities.
Beran A. admitted in court that he planned the attack. He said he considered using a suicide bombing method similar to the 2017 Manchester attack at an Ariana Grande concert, which killed 22 people. He also admitted he supported Islamic State.
Court officials confirmed to POLITICO that police found a device in his apartment. It was described as “almost completed, but not highly explosive.”
The court also ruled that both defendants encouraged a former friend, Hasan E., to carry out a knife attack in Mecca in 2024. Both men denied this charge. Hasan E. later stabbed five people in Islam’s holiest city. He said he believed Muslims there were not practicing their faith correctly. He is now in custody in Saudi Arabia.
Beran A. was arrested shortly before Taylor Swift’s scheduled concert on August 9, 2024. Austrian authorities acted after a warning from the CIA. After the arrest, Taylor Swift canceled all three planned concerts in Vienna.
The indictment against Beran A. was filed in February 2026.
The verdict came only days after another terrorism case in Austria. A Syrian asylum seeker was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for a knife attack in the southern town of Villach in 2025. That attack killed a 14-year-old boy and injured five other people.
In 2020, Austria also faced a major attack in Vienna. A 20-year-old attacker killed four people and injured 22 others. It was the deadliest Islamist terror attack in Austria’s modern history.
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