By Francois Murphy
WIENER NEUSTADT, Austria, April 28 (Reuters) – The trial of a 21-year-old accused of planning an Islamist assault on a Taylor Swift live performance in Vienna in 2024 that was foiled on the eleventh hour opened on Tuesday, together with his lawyer saying beforehand he would plead responsible to the primary costs.
The defendant, an Austrian recognized as Beran A, was arrested on August 7, 2024, the day earlier than the primary of three deliberate concert events by the U.S. pop star in Vienna. All three dates had been then cancelled, to the dismay of followers.
The trial in Wiener Neustadt, close to Vienna, will give attention to greater than that deliberate assault.
Beran A, who prosecutors say swore allegiance to Islamic State, can also be accused, together with Slovak nationwide Arda Ok, of planning assaults within the Center East they didn’t undergo with, and of serving to a 3rd man who has been arrested on suspicion of finishing up a knife assault in Mecca.
“He’s pleading responsible concerning the entire Taylor Swift affair,” Beran A’s lawyer Anna Mair stated earlier than the trial started simply after 9 a.m., including that he would plead not responsible to the opposite allegations.
Arda Ok will plead responsible to travelling to Istanbul with the intention of finishing up a militant assault that he didn’t go forward with, his lawyer David Jodlbauer stated earlier than the trial.
Each defendants lined their faces as they entered the courtroom, as is frequent in German-speaking international locations to keep away from being identifiable in pictures. Beran A wore a darkish blue shirt and denims, Arda Ok a light-weight blue shirt and beige trousers.
Prosecutors accuse Beran A of acquiring directions on-line on the right way to make shrapnel bombs of the type utilized by Islamic State, producing a small quantity of the explosive triacetone peroxide and making an attempt to purchase weapons illegally for the deliberate assault.
He has been charged with numerous terrorism-related offences in addition to belonging to a prison organisation and making a harmful menace, and faces 10 to twenty years in jail if convicted.
Prosecutors additionally allege the 2 and the third man had deliberate to hold out one assault every within the Center East earlier than the Swift concert events, in March 2024: Beran A in Dubai, Arda Ok in Istanbul and the third man in Mecca.
Whereas every travelled to his designated metropolis, solely the third man is believed to have launched an assault – he was arrested on suspicion of stabbing a safety official at Mecca’s Grand Mosque. He’s nonetheless in custody in Saudi Arabia.
Tuesday is the primary of 4 scheduled trial days. The final is Could 21, and it’s unclear whether or not extra might be wanted.
