A 21-year-old man was convicted on Thursday by an Austrian jury of planning an attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna two years ago. He was also found guilty of several terrorism charges in a separate case for planning to participate in coordinated attacks in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in the name of the Islamic State.
The court sentenced him to a total of 15 years in prison.
The defendant, who was identified by the authorities only as Beran A. to comply with local privacy laws, has three days to file an appeal.
As the 20 charges were read loud and the judge confirmed his guilt in each of them, the defendant crossed his arm and stared defiantly toward the public gallery, according to local news reports.
His conviction capped a case that began in August 2024, when the authorities, acting on a warning from the C.I.A., raided a house in Ternitz, Austria, and found evidence of what they said was a plot to attack one of three concerts that Ms. Swift was set to perform. They uncovered bomb-making components, machetes, knives, counterfeit money and Islamic State propaganda.
Prosecutors said the man planned to set off a shrapnel bomb in a crowded space outside the concert arena and to turn the other weapons on the crowd.
After the raid, Ms. Swift canceled all three of her Vienna shows, to the disappointment of more than 150,000 fans. Many had traveled to Austria from abroad.
The suspect pleaded guilty in April to planning the attack on Ms. Swift’s concert.
Another man, identified as Arda K., was convicted separately on Thursday of plotting a string of coordinated attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, and of several other terrorism-related crimes. He was sentenced to 12 years.
Although Beran A. admitted his guilt in the Swift attack plan on the first day of trial, both men had denied some of the charges stemming from their attack plan in the Middle East and Turkey. Austrian investigators were able to help piece together the men’s role in that plot after evaluating Beran A.’s communications.
A third man, who was accused of being part of that plot, is in prison in Saudi Arabia, according to the Austrian Press Agency.
Austrian news outlets have followed the trial intently, with rolling updates. The news outlet Der Standard reported on Thursday that the two defendants’ last words during the hearing part of the trial were apologies for their actions.
Tatiana Firsova and Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting.
Jim Tankersley is the Berlin bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The post Austrian Man Convicted of Planning Attack at Taylor Swift Concert in Vienna appeared first on New York Times.
