"Possessed by a demon"

Acquaintances of Beran A. paint a completely confused picture

Beran A. is said to have planned an attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna.

(Bild: zVg)

One day before his arrest, the terror suspect from Ternitz, Beran A., is said to have asked a 15-year-old where he could buy a fuse. This emerges from his testimony, which provides an insight into the confused world of thought in the Islamist scene. Another acquaintance says: "He was crazy." 

While the 19-year-old main suspect Beran A. and his alleged accomplice, who is two years younger, were arrested on 7 August on charges of terrorist association and criminal organization, the police also stopped a 15-year-old and questioned him as a witness.

What did the 15-year-old know?
He had last seen both suspects on the night of August 6, when he was picked up from training by the 19-year-old in his car. Beran A. had asked him twice "if I knew where to buy a fuse", the 15-year-old stated during his testimony. When asked what he was planning to do, the 19-year-old replied "You'll hear about it".

Beran A. wanted to kill Taylor Swift fans in Vienna.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA/Eva Manhart, zVg)

He had already thought about what he meant by that, "but I would never have believed that he was planning something along terrorist lines", said the 15-year-old. "Perhaps the jinn (a demon or spirit in the Islamic faith) was speaking out of him," the witness speculated.

Exorcism in the mosque
Friends had assumed that Beran A. was "possessed" by a demon, the 15-year-old explained. The Lower Austrian with North Macedonian roots had also once attended a ruqyah (a type of exorcism, note) carried out by an imam in a Viennese mosque.

The 19-year-old suddenly "started screaming and six evil djinn escaped from him. I wasn't there myself, but there was a video of the incident," the 15-year-old reported in his interrogation.

"He was ticking a bit differently. He was crazy"
The APA spoke to a 17-year-old who had been in contact with the two terror suspects on August 4. According to him, he was in the 19-year-old's car when the main suspect is said to have tried out a blue light and a siren in Sigleß in Burgenland, which he later allegedly wanted to use in the planned execution of the crime around the Happel Stadium in Vienna.

He had known Beran A., albeit not well, the youth described: "I noticed that he wasn't clear-headed. His head was ticking a bit differently than all of us. He was crazy." 

What was Beran A. up to?

• According to the findings of the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN), the 19-year-old had joined the radical Islamic terror militia Islamic State (IS).
• On July 7, he swore an oath of allegiance to the new IS leader.
• On August 8 or 9, according to investigators, he wanted to get as close as possible to the Happel Stadium in his car with the help of a blue light and siren.
• The aim: to kill Taylor Swift fans gathered in front of the stadium with a homemade explosive device or a machete and knives.
• According to his defense lawyer Werner Tomanek, the 19-year-old no longer stands by his initial confession.

Beran A. was "a radical" - in contrast to his alleged accomplice, who is also in custody for terrorist association and criminal organization. According to the current state of the investigation, the 17-year-old second suspect is said to have psychologically encouraged the 19-year-old in his terror plans and was also supposed to have helped with the stage set-up for the three Swift concerts in Vienna.

The 17-year-old was arrested on his way to work on the afternoon of August 7. His defense lawyer Nikolaus Rast denies the terror charges against his client.

Acquaintance vouches for 17-year-old
"We went to school together. We are the same age. We've been friends for years. I can't believe he wanted to do something. He was always normal, we went for walks, he liked to ride his e-scooter. He's not radical. I never realized that he wanted to do something like that (meaning a terrorist act, note)," said the teenager who was friends with the terror suspect on Saturday evening. The fact that his friend was supposed to work for the Swift performances at the Happel Stadium was "pure coincidence. He just wanted to earn money."

Beran A. has since withdrawn his "full confession".

(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

The young man, who according to his statements has not yet been questioned by the police, is likely to be an interesting witness for the prosecuting authorities. He was sitting in the car when the 19-year-old tried out a mobile blue light. However, this was not a "test" for a later terrorist attack, the teenager assured us. Such an attack had not been mentioned during the journey, nor had it even been a peripheral issue.

Beran A. brought witnesses home
"I was at a beach party in Sigleß", the teenager recalled the night of August 4th. Because it was late and he hadn't come home, he called the second suspect well after midnight and asked if he could arrange for him to be picked up. Beran A. then arrived in his car, in which there were two other people.

Suddenly, he held a flashing blue light out of the window.

Bekannter von Beran A.

He got in, "and suddenly we were standing in a one-way street with lots of people on the road who wanted to get home. Suddenly he has a flashing blue light out of the window," the boy reported. The 19-year-old also played a police siren on his cell phone "to get through the crowd". There was no follow-up horn.

"Nobody knew he had a flashing blue light with him. It must have been somewhere by the pedals under the steering wheel," the teenager speculated. Because of the blue light, the 19-year-old was "given way and he drove past the people and took me home".