Trial begins in Vienna over plot to attack Taylor Swift show

The trial of a man accused of plotting a terror attack at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in 2024 opened on Tuesday in Wiener Neustadt, near the Austrian capital city.

The man, an Austrian national identified as Beran A., was arrested on August 7, 2024, the day before the first of three planned concerts by the superstar singer in Vienna.

Those concerts were among the last shows of Swift's sold-out Eras Tour, with organizers having planned dozens of other events surrounding the concerts too.

The planned attack at the Taylor Swift concert was thwarted with the help of US intelligence. It resulted in organizers cancelling all three shows, to the dismay of fans. 

Suspect accused of ties to IS, planning further attacks

Public prosecutors said in a statement in 2024 that the Austrian man had declared allegiance to the so-called "Islamic State" terror group by sharing propaganda material.

Prosecutors are set to try the defendant on various terrorism-related offenses as well as his belonging to a criminal organization and making a dangerous threat.

Vienna prosecutors allege Beran A. of planning attacks in the Middle East with another Slovakian man and of helping a third man who has been arrested on suspicion of carrying out a knife attack in Mecca.

Beran A. and the Slovakian man never went ahead with their plans in the Middle East that involved planned attacks in Dubai and Istanbul.

"He is pleading ‌guilty regarding the whole Taylor Swift affair," Beran A.'s lawyer Anna Mair said before the ‌trial ​began, adding that he would plead not guilty to the other allegations.

Beran A. faces 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Edited by: Alex Berry 

*In accordance with the German press code, Deutsche Welle refrains from publishing the full name of criminal suspects.