After storming the Capitol
He is on the FBI wanted list: According to the state media, US citizens apply for asylum in Belarus
Several people were killed in the storm on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021
© Roberto Schmidt / AFP
US investigators accuse Evan Neumann of serious crimes in storming the Capitol in early January. Now the US citizen has apparently reappeared in Belarus.
A US citizen who is wanted by the police in connection with the violent assault on the US Capitol in January has applied for asylum in Belarus, according to Belarusian state media reports. Evan Neumann crossed the Ukrainian-Belarusian border in mid-August, the broadcaster Belarus 1 reported on Sunday evening. “A US citizen seeks asylum in Belarus. It sounds incredible, but it is,” the report said.
Belarus 1 published an interview with Neumann in which the bearded US citizen described himself as innocent. The man who used to live in California is on the wanted list of the US Federal Police FBI. He is charged by US investigators with six serious crimes in connection with the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, including attacks on police officers.
“This is political persecution”
According to Belarus 1, Neumann flew to Italy in March, from where he made his way to the western Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr. He lived there for four months before traveling illegally to Belarus. He had the impression that the Ukrainian secret service SBU was chasing him, Neumann told the broadcaster. “This is political persecution,” he said.
Neumann described Belarus 1 as a “simple American” who wanted “justice” and asked “uncomfortable questions”. Now he has “lost everything” and is being “persecuted” by the US government.
Five dead in a storm on the US Capitol
On January 6, supporters of then US President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in Washington to disrupt the official confirmation of the election victory of Trump’s successor Joe Biden. Five people died in the process. Trump is accused of inciting his supporters in a speech shortly before. To this day, the right-wing populist has not acknowledged his electoral defeat and instead claims without evidence that there was electoral fraud.
According to the US judicial authorities, Neumann has already been to Eastern Europe in the past. According to his LinkedIn profile, referenced by the US Department of Justice, the US citizen was in Ukraine during the so-called Orange Revolution in 2004 and 2005.
Tensions between Belarus and the West
By entering Belarus, Neumann entered a country whose relationship to the West is marked by massive tensions. The EU and the US imposed sanctions on the leadership in Minsk for alleged electoral fraud in the 2020 presidential election and the brutal persecution of opposition members in the country. Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, is currently being accused of smuggling migrants into the EU in order to retaliate against sanctions.