The Daily Beast:  “Evan Neumann of Mill Valley, CA is the newly minted star of state television in Minsk, Belarus.  Neumann, who is wanted in the U.S. on six criminal charges related to the attempted insurrection on Jan. 6—including two felonies for assaulting an officer—was featured in the Belarusian state TV special, “Goodbye, America,” which aired in full on Thursday. He recounted a treacherous journey through forested borderlands that landed him in Minsk and expressed his unwillingness to face justice in the United States. Neumann said he is seeking political asylum in Belarus because the U.S. is, in his opinion, no longer a country of law and order.

“In Thursday’s premiere of his interview, Neumann said that unless he is able to return to the United States, he would like to stay in Belarus and perhaps get an IT job. He said that Belarus did him ‘a big favor’ and in return promised to be ‘a productive and a good citizen.’ Neumann mentioned living in Moscow in 1994 and complained that both Russia and Belarus are being ‘demonized’ by the Western media. He described U.S. sanctions against both countries as ‘a form of terrorism.’

“Neumann claimed that upon return to America, he would face certain torture. ‘I’m not strong enough to withstand torture,’ he said, while grinning ear to ear. He expressed the need to obtain ‘government protection; from the United States by another country. Neumann explained his choice of a destination to the TV presenter Evgeny Gorin: ‘I know that Belarus resists the West. Besides that, your country was closer than Russia.’ He described leaving his temporary refuge in Ukraine with only $1,000 dollars on his person and heading for the border.”