"I am innocent"

“Experiment”: The world of lies of the Swift assassin

The 19-year-old terror suspect is currently being held in Wr. Neustadt prison, as is an accomplice.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Patrick Huber, zVg)

The 19-year-old who is said to be the brains behind the mass murder plot against concert fans now feels "misunderstood by the police" behind bars - and talks his way out of it: "I'm innocent, the bomb was just an experiment."

In his first interrogation by state security officers, the terror fanatic spoke proudly and without remorse about his terrible plans for the mass murder of fans of US pop star Taylor Swift after swearing allegiance to IS. "I wanted to kill as many innocent people as possible!" To do this, he mixed the chemicals he had previously stolen from his ex-employer - where he had quit because he had "big plans" - in his parents' house to make the so-called Mother of Satan, the explosive TATB. He stored some of it in the fridge.

The 19-year-old terror suspect is currently being held in Wr. Neustadt prison, as is an accomplice.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Patrick Huber, zVg)

The 19-year-old suspect already had a twelve-fold detonator at home for the remote detonation of several bombs. This could have been used to trigger the infernal machines using a timer or cell phone. The 19-year-old Beran A. also stockpiled knives and machetes in Ternitz (Lower Austria).

The terror suspect stored chemicals for the production of the explosive TATB partly in the refrigerator.(Bild: Doris Seebacher)

Running over and stabbing fans fleeing in panic
He apparently planned to use the explosives to cause panic in the stadium in front of or through his suspected terrorist accomplice, a scaffolding worker (17), who was also in custody. He then drove his VW Beetle into the fleeing crowd and used the stabbing weapons to kill other Swift fans. Finally, Beran A. wanted to die a martyr's death in a hail of police bullets.

But now the main suspect is suddenly backtracking and talking his way out from behind bars. Since Friday, Beran A. has had a lawyer, the Burgenland criminal defense lawyer Ina-Christin Stiglitz. "I have already visited the boy", she says, "in custody and had an initial meeting with him". The 19-year-old seemed "depressed, almost depressive": "He is shocked that he has to be behind bars. His arrest on Tuesday must have come as a complete surprise to him." And in any case, Beran A. now affirms: "I am not a terrorist"; and that the investigators "obviously misunderstood some things" during their interrogations with him.

No concert for Taylor Swift fans, but also bloodbath in Vienna(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

Stiglitz: "My client told me that he had never planned an attack." An almost fully functional bomb that was found in his icebox - in his parents' house in Ternitz - was "something he never wanted to use". But why had he built it? "I'm a technically minded person," Beran A. continues.

My client assures me that he only got involved with the ideas of IS out of a thirst for knowledge.

Verteidigerin Ina-Christin Stiglitz

Bild: Julia Dax-Sinkovits

As an AMS client, he felt "underutilized"
"That's why I thought - sometime in July - that I could try to make an explosive device. And I had enough free time to devote to this experiment." As an AMS client, after dropping out of an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk. "And precisely because I felt underutilized and am a cosmopolitan person who wants to accumulate a lot of knowledge - I also got involved with IS," is the 19-year-old's version of events. He also watched propaganda videos of the terrorist organization and even swore an oath of allegiance.

Beran A. to his lawyer Stiglitz: "The truth is: I have never identified with the ideas of IS." He only claims to have known about the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna "through media reports": "But I wasn't planning to go to any of them - because I'm not a fan of the singer."

"I don't think parents know anything about the arrest yet"
He denies that at least two of his friends (including an 18-year-old Iraqi as a follower) were privy to his alleged attack plans and may even have helped him in the attempted mass murder: "They are - like me - completely innocent." However, the evidence against him and his possible accomplices is overwhelming. However, none of them face life imprisonment! The 17-year-old faces up to 15 years in prison under juvenile criminal law, Beran A., because he is a young adult, 20 years. "I want to see my mom and dad," Beran A. lamented in conversation with his lawyer: "I don't think they know anything about my arrest yet"