A 21-year-old man is on trial in Austria for allegedly planning a terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in August 2024. His arrest followed a CIA tip-off, leading to the cancellation of all three sold-out shows in Vienna.
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A 21-year-old man is going on trial in Austria charged with planning and preparing a terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in August 2024.
The Austrian man, named only as Beran A., has been charged with terrorism and other offences and is appearing in court in Wiener Neustadt, just south of the capital.
He was arrested after a tip-off from the CIA just before Swift's opening concert in Vienna in 2024.
As a result, all three sold-out gigs by the US superstar singer at Vienna's Ernst Happl Stadium were cancelled.
More than 195,000 people in total had been expected to attend.
Thousands of disappointed fans roamed the streets of Vienna, singing and exchanging Taylor Swift-themed friendship bracelets.
Anna Mair, the lawyer for Beran A., said her client would plead guilty in part.
Vienna prosecutors have charged him with being a member of a terrorist organisation, and preparing and planning the attack on the Taylor Swift concert.
He is also accused of declaring allegiance to, and spreading online propaganda online for, the jihadist group Islamic State, as well as making explosives and attempting to purchase weapons illegally.
Beran A. is suspected of having obtained instructions via the internet on how to make a shrapnel bomb, using the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP).
The type of shrapnel bomb was "specific to IS attacks", the statement said.
Prosecutors accuse Beran A. of having received training from other members of Islamic State on how to handle explosives and of having made several attempts to purchase various firearms and a hand grenade through illegal dealers, with the intention of importing the weapons into Austria.
Prosecutors say Beran A. started planning the attack at the latest by 21 July 2024. He was arrested on 7 August, a day before the first concert.
Also on trial in Wiener Neustadt is another 21-year-old man, named as Arda K., who is accused of being part of an Islamic State cell with Beran A. They are accused of planning other attacks in Mecca, Istanbul and Dubai.
The two men, who were in their teens at the time of the attack, both face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
Last year, a teenager in Germany was also given an 18-month suspended sentence, for helping to prepare the foiled attack.
Prosecutors said the Syrian national, named as Mohammed A., helped Beran A. with a translation of bomb-making instructions from Arabic and put him in contact with an IS member.
The trial is expected to continue until late May.
Beran A. is charged with terrorism and other offences related to planning an attack on a Taylor Swift concert.
The concerts were cancelled due to a credible threat of a terrorist attack, as indicated by the arrest of Beran A. following a CIA tip-off.
More than 195,000 people were expected to attend the three sold-out concerts at Vienna's Ernst Happl Stadium.
The trial for Beran A. is currently taking place in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
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Taylor Swift - one of the world's biggest superstars - learned about the bomb plot in Vienna when she was on the plane to Austria, according to a documentary on the Eras Tour.
In her own words, she said the tour narrowly "dodged a massacre situation" when the CIA identified a plot to explode a bomb at the concert.
Speaking to select members of the media, including the BBC, at the New York premiere of her new six part Disney+ documentary, she said that after performing for 20 years "being afraid that something is going to happen to your fans is new".
In a post on social media after the incident in 2024, she wrote: "Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating.
"But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives."
The 149-show Eras Tour kicked off in March 2023 and closed in December 2024.
It spanned five continents, selling more than 10.1 million tickets and becoming the first tour in history to surpass $1bn (£786m) in ticket sales.