Vienna Swiftie Savior: Terrorist Plotter Sentenced to 15 Years for Targeting Taylor Swift Concert
Beran A., an Austrian citizen, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for planning a terror attack targeting fans at Taylor Swift's Eras Tour concert in Vienna. The plot involved knives and bombs.
An Austrian citizen identified as Beran A. has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for charges related to his foiled terror plot against Taylor Swift’s 2024 Eras Tour date in Vienna, according to The Associated Press. Because the charges were related to terrorism, he had faced 10 to 20 years in prison.
The 21-year-old pleaded guilty to conspiring an attack in April but not guilty to other charges. He was also charged with collaborating with another man, a Slovak national identified as Arda K., in planning attacks in the Middle East, and with a third man who was arrested on suspicion of implementing a knife attack in Mecca. Beran A. pleaded not guilty to charges of working with the third man. He was found guilty on multiple charges including those related to the concert.
Prosecutors alleged that Beran A. followed video instructions from ISIS about how to build a bomb and sought to illegally purchase weapons, including a machine gun and a hand grenade, according to Al Jazeera, to attack Swift’s fans.
“I would just like to say that I am sorry,” the man said on May 28 as court adjourned to decide the verdict of the remaining charges.
A rep for Swift did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
The man’s plan was to attack people outside of Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium, where 65,000 people a night were expected to watch Swift. As many as 30,000 people could have gathered outside the stadium where he wanted to carry out the attack with knives and bombs.
Beran A.’s lawyer, Anna Mair, said her client regretted the plot, and the Associated Press reported that Mair said he considered it “the biggest mistake of his life.”
“Having our Vienna shows canceled was devastating,” Swift wrote in a statement after the attack was thwarted. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.”
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