A U.S. citizen needed by the F.B.I. on fees together with assaulting law enforcement officials on the riot on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been granted asylum in Belarus, state media for the repressive Japanese European nation introduced.
Evan Neumann, a former California resident whom prosecutors in Washington have accused of greater than a dozen crimes, together with putting law enforcement officials and utilizing a steel barricade as a battering ram, left the US quickly after the riot final yr.
After crossing into Belarus close to the southwestern metropolis of Pinsk final August, Mr. Neumann, 49, formally utilized for asylum, in response to state media. Belarusian authorities confirmed Tuesday that the request had been granted, airing footage on Belta, the state information company, that appeared to point out Mr. Neumann, 49, formally signing an immigration doc.
“Now you might be utterly below the safety of the Republic of Belarus,” mentioned an official recognized by Belta as Yuriy Brazinskiy, an immigration official in Brest, the town the place Mr. Neumann resides. The standing was legitimate for “an indefinite time frame,” Mr. Brazinskiy mentioned.
Mr. Neumann mentioned he was grateful, however known as the expertise “bittersweet, like consuming cranberries.”
However, he added, “I really feel protected in Belarus, particularly in comparison with my compatriots in America.”
The F.B.I. mentioned in an e mail that Mr. Neumann was nonetheless needed however declined to remark additional.
The small Japanese European nation has been headed for nearly three many years by Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, who has wielded his energy to violently crack down on hundreds of individuals protesting an election in 2020 that many Western nations known as rigged. His foremost political opponent was compelled to flee the nation, and human rights teams have criticized the federal government for its impunity in persecuting journalists and opponents.
Final yr, Mr. Lukashenko ordered the interception of a Ryanair flight over Belarusian airspace carrying a distinguished dissident journalist, an act that some European nations denounced as a “state hijacking.”
Mr. Neumann, who owns a bag-making firm and had resided in Mill Valley, Calif., in response to prosecutors, mentioned in earlier interviews with Belarusian state media that pals had warned him he was on the F.B.I.’s most needed listing.
In paperwork filed in the US District Court docket for the District of Columbia, prosecutors mentioned that physique digicam footage from law enforcement officials confirmed Mr. Neumann verbally abusing law enforcement officials.
“I’m keen to die, are you?” he apparently mentioned to 1 officer. He additionally used his arms and fists to strike a police officer via a steel barricade earlier than utilizing the barricade as a battering ram geared toward officers, the paperwork mentioned. And he resisted orders to depart the Capitol steps, the criticism mentioned, and used expletives to confer with law enforcement officials.
Mr. Neumann has denied putting officers, or committing any crimes, and has mentioned in interviews with Belarusian state media that he traveled to Europe final February on a enterprise journey, passing via a number of European nations earlier than settling in Ukraine, a rustic he had beforehand visited, for 4 months.
However he felt that the Ukrainian authorities have been monitoring him, he mentioned, and determined to go to Belarus, which he described as “towards the West.”
He mentioned his new standing in Belarus meant he was now capable of journey to different elements of the nation, together with the capital, Minsk, however that he would settle in Brest. “I’ve began a life right here,” he mentioned.