Austria files charges against suspect over planned 2024 Taylor Swift attack

VIENNA, Feb 16 (Reuters) - ‌Austrian prosecutors have ​filed ​terrorism-related and other charges against a now 21-year-old suspect arrested shortly before a 2024 Taylor ‌Swift concert in Vienna, who they said planned to ⁠carry out an Islamist militant attack.

The Vienna prosecutors' office plans ‌to bring a criminal case ‌against the unnamed suspect in Wiener Neustadt, a town near Vienna, accusing him of producing a small ​amount of the explosive triacetone triperoxide and attempting to purchase weapons illegally, it said in a statement ⁠on Monday.

The statement referred to the suspect's arrest in August 2024, the ​same month as three planned Swift concerts were cancelled at short notice after Austrian authorities ​said they had foiled an attack.

The ‌statement from the prosecutors' office did not name the suspect, but he was identified ⁠by Austrian media as Beran A and is the only one to have been arrested in connection with the planned ⁠attack. Beran A's lawyer was not immediately available for comment but ​has previously disputed accusations made against his client.

The prosecutors' statement said the suspect was a member of Islamic State and that ‌he is accused of carrying out online research into a type of shrapnel bomb ‌used by that group, and of spreading Islamic State "propaganda ⁠material" online.

If convicted he ‌faces up to 20 ​years in prison, the statement added.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Alex Richardson and Sharon ‌Singleton)

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