An Austrian court has sentenced a 21-year-old man to 15 years in prison for planning a terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna.
The suspect, identified only as Beran A due to Austrian privacy laws, was also found guilty of several other terrorism related offenses.
The plot, foiled in August 2024 during the American singer’s record-breaking Eras Tour, led to the immediate cancellation of three sold-out concerts at Vienna’s Ernst-Happel-Stadion, disappointing nearly 200,000 fans.
The arrest was made possible following a critical intelligence tip-off from the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) just days before the first show was scheduled to take place.
According to prosecutors, the convict had become deeply radicalised online and had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group. The state prosecutors added that he had actively attempted to illegally purchase chemical substances, a machine gun, and a hand grenade to execute the mass attack.
Also, A second 21-year-old suspect, Arda K, who was accused of being part of the same terrorist cell but was not directly involved in the concert plot, was also sentenced to 12 years in prison during the joint trial in Wiener Neustadt, a city south of Vienna.
Before the jury reached its final verdict on Thursday, May 28, 2026, Beran A expressed regret in court for his actions. A court psychiatrist, Peter Hoffmann, testified that the convict showed no signs of mental illness, stating that there was no medical explanation for his rapid radicalisation.
Reacting to the judgment, Taylor Swift, who previously revealed that the incident filled her with a new sense of fear and guilt over the cancelled shows, thanked the authorities for preventing a mass casualty.
“I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives,” Swift stated.
