VIENNA — The trial of Beran A, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen accused of plotting to attack Taylor Swift's August 2024 concerts in Vienna, opened on 28 April 2026 in Wiener Neustadt. Proceedings were scheduled to continue until 12 May 2026.

Beran A faced charges including terrorist offences and membership in a terrorist organisation, and pleaded guilty to charges relating to the plot. He could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. He pleaded not guilty to providing moral support to Hasan E, arguing that Hasan E was already determined.

Defence attorney Anna Mair said her client plans to plead guilty to most of the charges. "Of course, he deeply regrets it all," Mair said. "It is also due to the long period of detention that he says it was the biggest mistake of his life."

Mair said: "My client has caused a great deal of fear and panic among many people, and he will have to answer for that, no question." Beran A has been in jail since his arrest in August 2024.

Austrian authorities cancelled Taylor Swift's three scheduled performances at Ernst Happel Stadium, which were due to begin on 8 August 2024. The United States provided intelligence that led to the cancellation. Authorities searched Beran A's flat on 7 August 2024 and found bomb-making materials.

According to prosecutors, Beran A planned to target onlookers gathered outside the stadium — up to 30,000 each night, with another 65,000 inside the venue — with knives or homemade explosives. He used Islamic State instructional videos to make a shrapnel bomb, produced triacetone triperoxide, and tried to buy weapons illegally, including a machine gun and hand grenade. He networked with other Islamic State members, discussing buying weapons and making bombs, and swore allegiance to the group.

Beran A and two school friends planned simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan 2024 in the name of the Islamic State. In March 2024, Beran A traveled to Dubai with the intention of carrying out a militant attack. Hasan E traveled to Mecca that month and was arrested on suspicion of stabbing a security guard at Mecca's Grand Mosque on 11 March 2024. Arda K pleaded guilty to traveling to Istanbul with the intention of carrying out an attack.

In 2025, a Berlin court convicted a 16-year-old Syrian teenager of contributing to the plot to attack the Vienna concert and gave him an 18-month suspended sentence.

"Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating," Swift said. "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." Fans who had traveled to Vienna traded friendship bracelets and held singalongs in the city center after the concerts were called off.