Overview
- The Landesgericht Wiener Neustadt on Friday May 29, 2026 convicted 21-year-old Beran A. and sentenced him to 15 years after a unanimous jury decision.
- The court found him guilty of multiple terrorism offences including participation in attempted murder, travel and training for terrorist purposes, and membership in a terrorist and criminal organisation.
- A forensic psychiatric report judged Beran A. criminally responsible despite earlier developmental deficits and past drug use, and the judge cited religiously motivated extremist motives as an aggravating factor.
- A Slovak co-defendant received a 12-year sentence and prosecutors said the defendants planned coordinated March 2024 attacks in Mecca, Istanbul and Dubai while a third suspect who attacked a security officer at the Kaaba is detained in Saudi Arabia.
- The verdicts are not yet final and the defence has said it will consider appeals, while the case recalls the August 2024 cancellation of three Taylor Swift shows in Vienna after the plot was uncovered.