California man granted asylum in Belarus after being sought in Jan. 6 riot and police assault

A Northern California man who fled america after allegedly assaulting law enforcement officials on the U.S. Capital on Jan. 6, 2021, has been granted political asylum in Belarus, state media there introduced this week.

Evan Neumann, 49, who lived in Mill Valley in Marin County, was indicted in December 2021 on 14 counts, together with assaulting officers and coming into a restricted constructing with a harmful weapon. However by then, in keeping with the FBI, he was already in Belarus, a former Soviet republic and present staging floor for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Neumann couldn’t be reached for remark. A person who answered a telephone quantity linked to Neumann’s brother and recognized himself with the identical first identify as Neumann’s brother hung up when a reporter recognized themselves as a Los Angeles Occasions worker.

The U.S. authorities says Neumann, who hails from a household that owned outstanding motels in in Sonoma County, flew to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2021, and was noticed on police body-cam video exterior the Capitol on Jan. 6, carrying a pink MAGA hat and an orange and yellow scarf commemorating the Ukrainian Orange Revolution of 2005. Neumann, who frolicked in Jap Europe and reportedly supported the pro-democratic Orange Revolution, additionally sported a fuel masks, in keeping with the federal government.

Standing simply behind a barricade meant to maintain rioters out of the Capitol, in keeping with the federal government, Neumann berated officers, saying they “kneel to antifa as a result of they’re little bitches,” and telling one officer that they are going to be overrun by the gang and warning: “I’m prepared to die. Are you?”

Round 2 p.m, in keeping with the federal government, Neumann used the barricade as a battering ram, lifting it off the bottom and speeding towards the officers. Hours later, after 5 p.m., Neumann was nonetheless at a restricted place on the Capitol steps, refusing to go away and calling the officers “motherf—” and “f—ing murderers,” in keeping with prosecutors.

Neumann is the son of late Santa Rosa hotelier Claus Neumann, and within the days after the riots, an nameless tipster claiming to be a household good friend gave Neumann’s identify and residential deal with to federal authorities. Officers then in contrast their footage with a tv interview Neumann did with an area tv station after a wildfire.

In 2017, Santa Rosa police arrested Neumann and his youthful brother, Mark, on suspicion of crossing official barricades to go to his mom’s destroyed home within the metropolis’s Fountaingrove neighborhood after the lethal Tubbs fireplace.

On Feb. 16, 2021, FBI brokers staked out Neumann’s home in Mill Valley after which adopted him to the worldwide terminal at San Francisco Worldwide Airport, the place they interviewed him. He admitted to flying to Washington on Jan. 5 and returning on Jan. 7 however declined to say whether or not he had had any “bodily engagement” with legislation enforcement or whether or not he entered any federal buildings throughout his journey. Neumann, who has had a number of companies, together with a purse one, was then allowed to go away the nation.

He flew to Italy, in keeping with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, after which traveled to Ukraine. However, in keeping with interviews Neumann gave to Belarusian state media, he started to worry that he was being watched and, due to shut ties between the U.S. and Ukraine, that he could possibly be extradited.

He crossed into Belarus, encountering snakes and boars, he mentioned in an interview with Belarusian state tv that has since been posted on YouTube.

Within the interview, wherein Neumann is pictured at occasions strolling in a city sq. together with his interviewer and at different occasions sitting in an workplace subsequent to a potted plant, he described officers hitting him with pepper spray on Jan. 6 and mentioned “very unusual issues occurred” on the Capitol. He additionally asserted that somebody inside opened the doorways to the constructing and that rioters have been “invited to return in.”

Within the spring of 2021, Neumann offered his two-bedroom home in tony Mill Valley for $1.3 million, closing the deal in a speedy 2 1/2 weeks, in keeping with an interview the customer gave to ABC7.

“We did some Googling,” Jason Dubaniewicz mentioned within the interview, after studying the vendor was in Ukraine. “We discovered an eclectic individual.”