Man jailed 15 years over planned attack at The Eras Tour concert

Austrian court has sentenced a 21-year-old man to 15 years in prison for plotting a jihadist attack targeting a concert by Taylor Swift during her The Eras Tour stop in Vienna.

The suspect, identified under Austrian privacy laws as Beran A., was convicted on multiple terrorism-related charges after admitting involvement in the planned attack ahead of Swift’s scheduled August 2024 performances at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium.

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Authorities arrested the defendant on August 7, 2024, one day before the first of three sold-out concerts. The planned attack was reportedly foiled after intelligence provided by the CIA prompted Austrian security agencies to intervene.

The security threat led to the cancellation of all three concerts, affecting nearly 200,000 fans expected to attend the shows.

During proceedings at a court in Wiener Neustadt, the defendant pleaded guilty and apologised before sentencing.

“I would just like to say that I am sorry,” he told the court.

Prosecutors said the suspect had pledged allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State and attempted to obtain illegal weapons, including a machine gun and grenade.

Investigators also told the court that he learned bomb-making techniques from extremist propaganda videos and produced triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a highly dangerous explosive frequently linked to terror attacks.

Authorities alleged that the planned attack involved targeting concertgoers outside the stadium using knives and homemade explosives.

A second defendant, identified as Arda K., received a 12-year prison sentence for related terrorism offences connected to the same extremist network.

Following the cancellation of the Vienna concerts in 2024, Taylor Swift described the situation as “devastating,” saying the incident left her with “a new sense of fear.”

She later expressed gratitude to security authorities, noting that lives were saved because the plot was stopped before the concerts took place.