A man who was accused of plotting an attack on Taylor Swift’s concert in Vienna, Austria, in 2024 has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The 21-year-old man, known only as Beran A. due to local privacy rules, was found guilty of plotting a jihadist attack on Thursday, May 28, according to BBC.
The man publicly apologized just before the court adjourned to decide on a verdict.
“I would just like to say that I am sorry,” he said, according to the AP.
Beran A. pleaded guilty in April to charges of terrorist offenses and membership in a terrorist organization. He was accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and planning to attack Swift’s fans with knives and homemade explosives during the pop star’s concert at Ernst Happel Stadium in August 2024. He was arrested that month and has been in custody since.
“Of course, he deeply regrets it all,” his lawyer Anna Mair said before the trial. “He says it was the biggest mistake of his life.”
Beran A. was on trial with another man, known only as Arda K. Both parties, along with a third man, allegedly planned attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan. Only Beran A. was charged in connection with the concert plot. He pleaded not guilty to charges related to the other planned attacks.
Swift, 36, had been scheduled to perform three Eras tour shows in Vienna when the government became aware of a planned terrorist attack on the venue. The concerts were subsequently canceled.
“Having our Vienna shows canceled was devastating,” Swift wrote via Instagram at the time. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.”
The “So High School” singer continued, “I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London. My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us.”
Swift later addressed the foiled attacks in her December 2025 Eras tour docuseries, The End of an Era, as well as the fatal stabbing of three young fans attending a Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England, in July 2024.
“It’s just kind of a weird feeling going into these last five shows in Europe,” she recalled. “We’ve done, like, 128 shows so far, but this is the first one where I feel like I’m skating on thin ice or something. We’ve had a series of very violent, scary things happen to the tour — like, we dodged a massacre situation, so I’ve just been kind of all over the place.”
