Jan. 6 Rioter Hiding Out in Belarus Called Capitol Police ‘Little Bitches’

An American man who’s been charged with multiple felonies including assaulting cops during the Capitol riot told Belarus state television Thursday that the government staged the riot and he would be tortured if he returned to the United States.

Evan Neumann of California is wanted by authorities for his alleged role in the Capitol riot, and is accused of punching multiple officers and using a barricade to ram the police. Neumann, 48, is seeking asylum in Belarus after being placed on the FBI Most Wanted List; he sold his home in California for more than $1.3 million in April.

Court filings accuse Neumann of also telling the cops they “kneel to antifa because they’re little bitches” and saying, at one point: “I’m willing to die, are you?”

In a TV special called “Goodbye America!” which aired partly earlier in the week and in full on Belarus 1 on Thursday, Neumann denied that he had attacked cops during the riot.

“I don't think I committed any crime, and one of the charges was very insulting,” Neumann said, according to a transcript released by Belarus 1.

“The allegation is that I hit a police officer. This allegation is wholly without merit.” In court filings in Neumann’s case, federal prosecutors have included screenshots from police body camera footage purporting to show Neumann striking the cops.

Neumann flew to Italy in March and from there made his way east. He lived in Ukraine for four months, he told Belarusian TV, before noticing he was being followed by Ukrainian intelligence. He then fled to the Belarusian border, where he was taken into custody by border guards on August 15. 

“I wouldn’t dare ask for asylum until the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine] started following me in Ukraine, two weeks later,” he said. 

During a news broadcast showing clips from the interview, the network displayed a hologram of ‘QAnon Shaman’ Jacob Chansley, who is facing the prospect of more than four years in prison for his alleged involvement in the riot. 

In the full special, which aired Thursday, Neumann reportedly said that he would be tortured if he returned to the United States. Last week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said after visiting the “Patriot Wing” of the D.C. jail where alleged rioters are being held that the government “tortures people in jail and wants to re-educate them and make them denounce the president that they love and denounce the country that they love.”

“I’m not strong enough to withstand torture,” Neumann told Belarus 1 during the full special, according to the Daily Beast.

“This is political persecution, not [a] criminal investigation, but political persecution,” Neumann said, according to the transcript. 

Neumann said in the interview that the federal government staged the Capitol riot, a popular suggestion among people on the right—including former Trump lawyer John Eastman—for which no evidence has been produced. 

“When I was outside the Capitol, nobody came in through the windows, there were hundreds of people, and after a man broke a window and invited us in, told us to come in, nobody did it,” Neumann said, according to the transcript. “And that's how the government has been creating these situations since the 1990s that they test on us, and call it a terrorist event or something like that.”

Belarus is one of the most politically repressive states in eastern Europe. In June, the United States and European Union administration hit the Belarusian government with sanctions after Belarus forced a passenger jet traveling from Lithuania to Greece to land in Minsk, where an opposition journalist on the plane was then arrested by Belarusian authorities. The CEO of Ryanair called the maneuver a “case of state-sponsored hijacking.” 

The Biden administration then announced in August that it would bring further sanctions against Belarus and companies and organizations tied to President Alexander Lukashenko, on the anniversary of the Belarusian government cracking down on protests following a disputed presidential election. The government said Lukashenko received more than 80 percent of the vote in that election, which international observers said—ironically, considering the claims of Trump and his supporters—was full of irregularities and fraud. 

Lukashenko has led Belarus for nearly three decades. 

“It is the responsibility of all those who care about human rights, free and fair elections and freedom of expression to stand against this oppression,” President Joe Biden said in a statement at the time. “The United States will continue to stand up for human rights and free expression, while holding the Lukashenko regime accountable, in concert with our allies and partners.”

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