This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
A U.S. national who took part in the January 6 storming of the Capitol building in Washington is seeking political asylum in Belarus.
In an interview with the state-controlled Belarus-1 television channel, which was broadcast on November 7, Evan Neumann said he had followed the advice of his lawyer and fled to Europe after six charges were filed against him.
Neumann said that he stayed in Switzerland and Italy for some time and then went to Ukraine for four months.
In mid-August, Neumann was detained by Belarusian border guards for illegally crossing from Ukraine.
According to Neumann, he decided to flee to Belarus and seek political asylum there after Ukraine’s security services had started expressing interest in him.
The Californian faces six federal charges for taking part in the storming at the Capitol, which involved interrupting the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the election.
In his interview with Belarus-1, Neumann rejected the charges, calling them “political persecution.”
