A fleeing United States citizen from California is accused of assaulting police during the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, during which he used a metal cockroach as a ram. Federal prosecutors confirmed Friday that he may have found refuge in Belarus.

Evan Neumann, 49, was charged with 14 criminal charges on Friday. They refer to the participation in the attack on the Capitol in a group of supporters of then-President Donald Trump. The charges are an extension of the indictment originally filed against Neumann in March.

According to the prosecutor’s office, Camera recordings confirm that Newman was involved in the riots. The video shows him wearing a gas mask as he stands near police, next to the barricades in front of the Capitol.

“According to the documents presented in the case, Newman later took off his gas mask and shouted to the police, ‘I’m ready to die, right?'” Before attacking several officers: They are thrown at them, using the barrier as a ram“- writes Reuters.

He also adds, Newman did not appear in court in this case. He fled the United States on February 16.

The District of Columbia District Attorney’s Office stated that it was “believed to be in Belarus.”

The Daily Beast reported Neumann’s speech last month on a special program of Belarusian state television and on the Russian channel Russia Today. The 49-year-old American, owner of the company and father of two children, revealed that he is seeking political asylum in Belarus because, in his opinion, the United States is no longer a country of law and order.

According to Neumann’s statements in the Russian-speaking media, he first traveled to Italy, where he made his way to Switzerland by train. There he rented a car to get to Poland via Germany. When he finally arrived in Ukraine, he lived in a rented apartment. After four months of hiding in Zhytomyr, Neumann was worried about the surveillance of the SBU, and therefore decided to escape. Cross the border with Belarus on foot through the swamps of the closed area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

In 2021, a total of three US citizens applied for political asylum in Belarus. Newman is the only international fugitive charged with the unrest at the Capitol, he wrote to Reuters in a commentary.

More than 220 people are accused of attacking or obstructing law enforcement while repelling the attack on the Capitol on January 6. The riots disrupted a joint session of Congress to formally approve the victory of Joe Biden, who defeated Donald Trump in the November 2020 presidential election.