Overview
- The 21-year-old defendant, whose trial opened Tuesday in Wiener Neustadt, admitted the Vienna concert plot and membership in an Islamic State cell and faces 10 to 20 years if convicted.
- Prosecutors say he followed ISIS bomb-making videos, made a small amount of the explosive TATP, tried to buy weapons illegally, and planned to strike crowds outside Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium.
- U.S. intelligence, reported as a CIA tip, led police to raid his home on Aug. 7, 2024, recover bomb materials, and trigger the cancellation of all three shows that were expected to draw about 195,000 people.
- A co-defendant, Arda K., faces related charges tied to alleged plans in Dubai and Istanbul, while a third suspect, Hasan E., was arrested in Saudi Arabia after a knife attack in Mecca.
- The defendant contests other allegations beyond the concert plot, and the court has set four hearing dates with proceedings continuing May 12 and running through May 21.