Marin Capitol Riot Fugitive Gets Asylum In Belarus

MILL VALLEY, CA — A Mill Valley man wanted in connection with the Jan. 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol has been granted asylum in Belarus, according to the nation's state-run television station.

Evan Neumann, 49, is accused of assaulting three officers during the Capitol riot. He is the target of a 14-count indictment federal prosecutors filed in December.

The former Sonoma County resident who last year sold his Mill Valley home for $1.3 million is among more than 650 people who have been charged in connection with the riot on the Capitol.

Neumann confirmed that he’d been granted legal protection from the Eastern European nation allied with Russia in a Belarusian state television interview, The BBC reports.

"I am glad Belarus took care of me,” Neumann said. “I am upset to find myself in a situation where I have problems in my own country."

Neumann acknowledged last year in another Belarusian television interview that he attended the Jan. 6 riot on the Capitol in support of then-President Donald Trump's baseless claims of election fraud but said he did not break any laws.

"I don't think I have committed some kind of a crime," Neumann told Belarus 1 in November.

"One of the charges was very offensive; it alleges that I hit a police officer. It doesn't have any grounds to it."

Video footage from the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection shows Neumann putting on a gas mask while standing near law enforcement officers in front of the barricades at the base of the West Front of the Capitol Building, the DOJ said.

At approximately 1:27 p.m., Neumann removed his gas mask and began verbally abusing law enforcement attempting to protect the building, according to the DOJ.

Over a period of approximately 30 minutes, he stated, among other things, that officers will be "overrun" by the crowd and that, "I'm willing to die, are you?"

At approximately 1:57 p.m., Neumann grabbed a metal barricade with his hand and shoved it into the line of officers from the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department, the DOJ said.

After striking the officers with the barricade and with his fist, Neumann, joined others breaking down the barricades and then used the barricade as a battering ram, rushing toward the officers and eventually entered the U.S. Capitol building, the DOJ said.

Additional footage shows that Neumann remained on restricted grounds past 5 p.m., continuing to resist repeated orders by law enforcement to leave the Capitol steps, according to the DOJ.

Neumann assaulted three officers from the Metropolitan Police Department and one from the Capitol Police, according to the indictment.

The case against Neumann is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.

The case is being investigated by the FBI's Washington Field Office, which identified Neumann as #AFO-171 is seeking information photos, as well as the FBI's San Francisco Field Office. Valuable assistance was provided by the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police.

In the 11 months since Jan. 6, more than 700 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 220 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.

Neumann told Belarus 1 that he initially fled to Italy after his photo surfaced on the FBI's most wanted list and has since spent time in several European countries.

Neumann subsequently went to Ukraine, and then fled that country by illegally crossing into neighboring Belarus, citing suspicions that he was under surveillance in Ukraine, the report said.

"It is awful," he told Belarus 1. "It is political persecution."

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit here.