© TV Belarus-1A videograb from Evan Neumann's interview with Belarusian state TV, which was broadcast on November 7.
Evan Neumann, 48, was charged in July on six separate criminal charges, including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, as well as for assaulting, resisting and obstructing law enforcement at the Capitol insurrection on January 6.
Shortly after the charges were filed, Neumann sold his house in California's Bay Area for $1.3 million and fled. He is listed by the FBI as a 'defendant at large'.
He has now emerged in Belarus, where Alexander Lukashenko - infamous for imprisoning his political rivals and for coming under fire during violent crackdowns following his highly disputed election victory in August 2020 - has been in power for 26 years.
In a sit-down interview titled 'Goodbye, America' released on Sunday, he told Belarus 1 that he is facing six criminal charges back in the United States.
Neumann said: 'I do not believe that I have committed any crime. One of the charges was very offensive.
'It is alleged that I hit a police officer. There is no reason for this. 'This is terrible... This is political persecution. And this is a level with which I cannot do anything.'
In the interview, he tells a reporter for the state-run television network what he went through, as Belarus 1 tries to paint him as an average American fleeing political persecution.
'Judging by his story, [Neumann] is the same type of simple American whose shops were burned by Black Lives Matter activists,' a Belarus TV channel presenter said as he introduced Neumann.
He added that Neumann had been 'politically active,' but did not have access to state secrets.
'However, something makes him flee from the country of fabulous freedoms and opportunities, as we used to believe,' the reporter stated, saying that Neumann 'sought justice and asked uncomfortable questions' following the 2020 presidential election 'but lost almost everything and is being persecuted by the U.S. government.'
To get to Belarus, Neumann flew to Italy, then got on a train to Switzerland, and drove to Ukraine via Germany and Poland. Once in Ukraine, he rented an apartment for six months but claims he was being followed by the Ukrainian secret service. He then says he crossed illegally into Belarus by wading through swamps, and dodged wild hogs and snakes. He was held by Belarusian border authorities on August 15.
© US Capitol PoliceThe FBI obtained body-worn camera footage showing Neumann pushing a metal barricade into Metropolitan police officers at the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol
The riot began when a group of Stop The Steal protesters marched on the Capitol in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The rioters apparently organized to meet at the Save America rally, protesting the results of the 2020 presidential election as former President Donald Trump claimed there was election fraud, and began descending on Congress shortly after 1pm.
At around 1.37pm, the indictment against Neumann states, he was seen wearing a red 'Make America Great Again' hat, an orange and yellow scarf, a dark-colored Dakine backpack with a red logo, a black coat and blue jeans, with a gas mask and a red mouthpiece around his neck.
He was standing by the barricades Metropolitan Police put up around the Capitol when he started to berate the police at the scene, speaking directly to them as he said they are 'defending the people who are going to kill your f****** children.
'They are going to kill your f****** children, they are gonna rape them, they are gonna imprison them, and you're defending the people that are going to do this to your children,' he said, according to the indictment.
His claims seemed to echo those from the widespread QAnon conspiracy theory movement, which holds that Trump is waging a secret war against a global cabal of elite Satan worshipping pedophiles in government, business and the media.
Its followers believe Trump will expose the pedophiles, order its members be arrested and sentenced to death.
At the riot, the indictment alleges, Neumann refused orders to move away from the metal barricades, telling the officers: 'No, you can't tell me what to do, you piece of s***.'
He later allegedly berated one of the officers, only identified as 'J.M,' saying that officers 'kneel to Antifa because they're little b******'. He then also allegedly threatened J.M. and said that the officers will be 'overrun' by the crowd, telling him: 'I'm willing to die, are you?'
As the crowd around him became more aggressive in their push to enter the Capitol, it is alleged Neumann tried to shove the barricade into J.M. and push it into the line of officers.
Eventually, he allegedly punched J.M., and the crowd succeeded in breaking down the barrier.
J.M. then tried to wrestle the metal barricade out of Neumann's hands, the indictment states, but Neumann used it as a battering ram, lifted it off the ground and used it to strike the officer.
The FBI later found Neumann leaving his house in Mill Valley, California on February 16 - after he was identified as the suspect in the footage - and heading to the international terminal at San Francisco International Airport. There, agents wrote in the indictment, Neumann had admitted to flying to Washington D.C. on January 5 and departing on January 7.
He also reportedly admitted that he interacted with law enforcement on his trip, but did not provide any details.
It is unclear why he was able to travel to the airport as he was under investigation, and whether the FBI had seized his passport. DailyMail.com has reached out to the FBI for more information.
By April, though, ABC 7 reports, he had sold his home in Mill Valley for $1.3 million, and when reporters tried to contact him after the charges were filed, the real estate agent who sold his home said he went to Ukraine.
Neumann had previously attended the Ukrainian Revolution in 2004 and 2005, the FBI found, and a review of public records conducted by DailyMail.com shows that he has a pilot's license and a private airplane.
He also reportedly has two children and a brother, Mark Neumann, who told ABC 7 back in July that he had no knowledge of his brother's whereabouts.
R.C.