A 21 year old man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after admitting to plotting a foiled terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in 2024.
The man in question, Beran A, was an Austrian national who was found guilty on all counts by a jury of planning the attack and forming an IS cell, having faced trial last month on terror offences and other charges in Wiener Neustadt outside Vienna.
This incident led to Swift being forced to cancel all three of her shows in the city as part of her historic Eras tour in 2024, after authorities had warned of the plot by the so called Islamic State group, IS. It was also thwarted thanks to the contributions of US intelligence.
Beran A was arrested the day before the cancelled concert and has been in custody ever since. He pleaded guilty to all charges, aside from being an accomplice to attempted murder. The maximum sentence he could have received was 20 years in prison.
Alongside Beran A, another 21 year old, Arda K was also sentenced to 12 years in prison as part of the same trial, with both defendants apologising for their crimes committed in their closing remarks.
"I just want to say that I'm sorry", Beran A told the court.
Along with Beran A and Arda K, a third Austrian national, Hasan E, was also accused of a "highly dangerous IS terror cell", planning out several attacks on places abroad, by order of IS, according to prosecutors.
Hasan E is currently serving time in prison in Saudi Arabia, after being charged with stabbing a security official in Mecca in 2024, and causing injury to four others.
In closing arguments, defence lawyer, Mair called on the jury to acquit Beran of encouraging Hasan to carry out the stabbing, on the grounds that there was no evidence. She insisted that her client is "not a leader, he is not an ideological mastermind".
Prosecutors told the courts that the jury had the "chance to send a clear signal" that those guilty of committing such crimes well be held accountable on all counts. They also added that Hasan E was encouraged by Beran A through "intensive contact" and other ways.
They also claimed that Beran A had participated and "openly aligned himself" with IS, by sharing IS propaganda. He is also accused of being a member of a terror organisation from 2023.
Last year, a Syrian teenager aged 16, received an 18 month suspended sentence, after he was convicted of contributing to the plot to attack the Swift concert in a Berlin court.
