Belarus TV: American facing Jan. 6 riot charges seeks asylum

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KYIV – An American who faces transgression charges from the Jan. 6 riot astatine the U.S. Capitol is seeking asylum successful Belarus, the country's authorities TV reported, successful a determination that could further heighten tensions betwixt the turbulent erstwhile Soviet federation and the United States.

Evan Neumann of Mill Valley, California, acknowledged successful an interrogation with the Belarus 1 transmission that helium was astatine the Capitol that time but rejected the charges, which see assaulting police, obstruction and different offenses. The transmission aired excerpts of the interrogation connected Sunday and Monday, and promised to merchandise the afloat mentation connected Wednesday.

“I don't deliberation I person committed immoderate benignant of a crime,” said Neumann, 48, according to a Belarus 1 voiceover of his interrogation remarks. “One of the charges was precise offensive; it alleges that I deed a constabulary officer. It doesn't person immoderate grounds to it." Neumann spoke successful English but was hardly audible nether the dubbed Russian.

Both Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin person utilized the Jan. 6 riot arsenic a mode to impeach the U.S. of a treble modular successful criticizing different countries, including Russia and Belarus, for cracking down connected antigovernment protests

Belarus was rocked by months of protests aft predetermination officials gave Lukashenko a sixth word successful the 2020 balloting that the absorption and the West person denounced arsenic a sham. The authorities unleashed a convulsive crackdown connected the protesters, arresting much than 35,000 radical and severely beating thousands of them. The crackdown elicited wide planetary outrage.

Putin likewise has travel nether disapproval from the West implicit the imprisonment of absorption person Alexei Navalny, the detention of thousands of demonstrators protesting his arrest, and the outlawing of Navalny’s organizations arsenic extremist. In an interrogation with NBC successful June, Putin suggested that the hundreds of radical arrested for rioting astatine the U.S. Capitol were being subjected to “persecution for governmental opinions.”

U.S. tribunal documents authorities that Neumann stood astatine the beforehand of a constabulary barricade wearing a reddish “Make America Great Again” chapeau arsenic supporters of President Donald Trump tried to unit past officers. Prosecutors accidental Neumann taunted and screamed astatine the constabulary earlier putting a state disguise implicit his look and threatened 1 officer, saying constabulary would beryllium “overrun” by the crowd.

“I’m consenting to die, are you?” prosecutors quoted Neumann saying to the officer.

Police assemblage camera footage shows Neumann and others shoving a metallic barricade into a enactment of officers who were trying to propulsion the assemblage backmost earlier helium punched 2 officers with his fist and past deed them with the barricade, according to tribunal papers.

Neumann was identified by investigators aft idiosyncratic who said they were a household person called an FBI extremity enactment with Neumann’s sanction and hometown. He was charged successful a U.S. national transgression complaint, meaning a justice agreed that investigators presented capable probable origin that Neumann had committed the crimes.

Messages near for household members of Neumann successful Northern California were not returned Tuesday.

Neumann is 1 of much than 650 radical who person been charged for their actions connected Jan. 6, erstwhile pro-Trump rioters attacked the Capitol gathering and delayed Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.

Neumann told Belarus 1 that his photograph had been added to the FBI's astir wanted list, aft which helium near the state nether the pretense of a concern trip. Neuman, who owns a handbag manufacturing business, traveled to Italy successful March, and past done Switzerland, Germany and Poland earlier arriving successful Ukraine and spent respective months there.

He said helium decided to illegally transverse into neighboring Belarus aft helium noticed surveillance by Ukraine's information forces. “It is awful. It is governmental persecution,” Neumann told the TV channel.

Belarusian borderline guards detained him erstwhile helium tried to transverse into the state successful mid-August, and helium requested asylum successful Belarus. Belarus doesn’t person an extradition pact with the U.S.

“We’ve seen Belarusian authorities media reporting astir this idiosyncratic Evan Newman,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said successful Washington.

“Due to U.S. privateness laws, we’re constricted successful what we tin accidental astir idiosyncratic U.S. citizens," helium added, and referred questions to the Justice Department, which said it doesn't remark "on the beingness oregon nonexistence of requests for apprehension to overseas governments.”

The Belarus 1 anchors described Neumann arsenic a “simple American, whose stores were burned down by members of the Black Lives Matter movement, who was seeking justice, asking inconvenient questions, but mislaid astir everything and is being persecuted by the U.S. government.”

In a abbreviated preface to the interview, the Belarus 1 newsman besides said that “something” made Neumann “flee from the state of fairytale freedoms and opportunities” — an evident notation to the U.S., which has levied aggregate sanctions against Belarus implicit quality rights abuses and its convulsive crackdown connected dissent.

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Associated Press writer Mike Balsamo successful Washington contributed.

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