A man charged in connection with the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot has fled the country and is seeking asylum in Belarus, which does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
According to ABC News, Evan Neumann, 48 sold his home in California and left for Europe to evade arrest in March.
Court documents say FBI agents followed Neumann to the San Francisco International Airport on Feb. 16 and questioned him about being at the Capitol on Jan. 6. He confirmed he was at the Capitol that day and that he “interacted” with law enforcement. He wasn’t taken into custody and the government didn’t specify if he’d gotten on a plane at the time.
Months after filing charges prosecutors asked a judge to unseal the case because making the charges public would at least give authorities more options to try to track him down since he was “actively attempting to evade arrest,” BuzzFeed reports.
Neumann was charged with six crimes related to the insurrection, including two felonies for assaulting an officer and participating in a civil disorder. He told Belarus state TV that his lawyer had advised him to flee to Europe.
He said he traveled from US to Italy in March under the guise of a business trip and then took a train to Switzerland. From there, he said he drove to Germany and Poland before settling in Ukraine. He rented an apartment for four months before crossing into neighboring Belarus after he noticed Ukrainian security services “following” him.
Neumann crossed illegally by foot into Belarus in August. He recalled encountering wild boars and travelling through snake-infested waters as he crossed the swampy forest land between the two countries. He was detained on August 15 at the border by Belarusian authorities.
In a segment on Belarus state TV, titled ‘Goodbye America’ the host said Neumann’s situation was “difficult to imagine” and portrayed him as “the same type of simple American whose shops were burned by Black Lives Matter activists,” according to the Moscow Times.
They also said Neumann is being “persecuted by the U.S. government,” for seeking justice and asking “uncomfortable questions” about the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
For his part, Neumann claims the charges against him are “unfounded” and amounts to “political persecution.”
