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What Does Alleged Capitol Rioter's Decision to Flee to Belarus Say About the US Justice System?

© Sputnik / Artur GabdrakhmanovDemonstrators protest outside US Capitol Building in Washington to contest the certification of the 2020 presidential election results by the US Congress, 6 January 2021
Demonstrators protest outside US Capitol Building in Washington to contest the certification of the 2020 presidential election results by the US Congress, 6 January 2021 - Sputnik International, 1920, 13.11.2021
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A 48-year old California native, Evan Neumann, charged with six crimes related to his alleged participation in the Capitol protests on 6 January, is reportedly seeking asylum in Belarus. Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel believes that this case reflects a growing disenchantment of Americans with the US justice system.
Evan Neumann, an alleged Capitol protester on the FBI's Most Wanted List, argues that he did not commit the crimes he is charged for by US federal agents: "This is political persecution, not criminal investigation", the American told broadcaster Belarus-1. The Belarusian migration authorities admitted that at least three United States citizens have applied for asylum in Belarus so far in 2021, according to the Daily Mail.

Erosion of Trust in Law and Order?

The DoJ's prosecution of Capitol rioters has prompted a lot of controversy: conservative observers argue that J6 defendants' rights have been repeatedly abused. Julie Kelly, a political commentator with American Greatness, has listed a series of episodes of the FBI's pre-dawn raids on J6 suspects, interrogations without a lawyer present, and erroneous arrests.
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers argue that the DoJ has adopted a double-standard approach: unlike the J6 defendants, Black Lives Matter rioters were released on multiple occasions with their cases being dropped by the US authorities.
Neumann's decision to flee to Belarus has raised many eyebrows in the US, as the East European state is routinely depicted by the American press as an "authoritarian" realm, says Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel. However, this case speaks volumes about the current condition of the US justice system, according to him.

"Watching recent events in America, fair-minded observers must be deeply troubled by the trajectory inside America when it comes to defining law and order", Ortel says.

Demonstrators protest outside US Capitol Building in Washington to contest the certification of the 2020 presidential election results by the US Congress, 6 January 2021 - Sputnik International, 1920, 06.07.2021
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While the 6 January DC incident is often referred to as an "insurrection" by Democratic politicians and US mainstream media, none of the over 600 defendants have been accused of committing insurrection crimes. Furthermore, "the majority of 1/6 defendants are accused of non-violent crimes", American independent journalist Glenn Greenwald writes on his blog. Nevertheless, Biden's DoJ has resorted to "the extraordinary pre-trial detention of non-violent 1/6 defendants", "the unusually harsh conditions in which they are detained", and "sentences harsher than those requested by prosecutors", according to the journalist.
US conservative and independent observers are inclined to see the 6 January "insurrection" case as a Democratic political tool used to undermine Donald Trump's base, vilify MAGA lawmakers in the US Congress, and disrupt the former president's potential run in 2024.

"The precedents set of using immense (for the moment) government resources and other tools against political opponents or critics of perceived government abuses are woefully damaging to integrity of and confidence in rule of law in America", warns Ortel. "Because government officials get away with their abuses, others are motivated to join, to extend and to magnify the cycle of abuse. Moreover, the market for buying influence or protection becomes even more robust".

People gathered in DC on September 18 to participate in the Justice for J6 rally in support of people arrested after the January 6 riot - Sputnik International, 1920, 11.10.2021
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US Political Elites Have Long Record of Manipulating Justice

However, the erosion of trust in the US justice machine originates not in Joe Biden's era, but much earlier, according to Ortel.

"Since 1989, and particularly in recent years under Republicans and Democrats alike, Americans and foreign observers can see how politically connected elites protect themselves and punish their rivals and perceived enemies", the analyst says.

He refers, in particular, to George H.W. Bush's pardoning his allies convicted in relation to obstructing fair inquiries into the Iran-Contra affair and its aftermath. According to the analyst, many have suggested this was to insulate George H.W. Bush from legal or political exposures.
"Perhaps, watching the Bush pardons escape effective sanction, Bill Clinton plumbed lower depths with his last minute pardons that included some for fugitives and even for one person who was serving a long federal jail term for bombing government buildings fomenting an actual insurrection", Ortel says, referring to Clinton's decision to commute the sentence of Susan Rosenberg, a member of the radical Weather Underground organisation, in January 2001.
Then Vice President Joe Biden, left, and his son Hunter Biden appear at the Duke Georgetown NCAA college basketball game in Washington on Jan. 30, 2010. - Sputnik International, 1920, 29.10.2021
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Now Americans live in a world where the FBI protects Joe Biden and his family, "who seem to have been involved in deeply troubling and possibly criminal activities for years", while "the wheels of injustice in Washington, DC apparently still hold many persons in jail or even solitary confinement without in many cases bringing formal, credible charges", according to the investigative journalist.
"Perhaps, UN authorities might be pushed to investigate what a conflicted FBI seems unwilling or unable to do with regard to seeming abuses of human rights?" Ortel asks rhetorically.
The analyst laments the fact that some of those politicians who began their careers in the 1960s and 1970s "questioning authority" and advocating human rights and freedoms "have devolved into authoritarians, pushing dangerous policies and practices that threaten civilised life here and in many other places worldwide, while trying to crush dissent".
Nevertheless, the Wall Street analyst emphasises that fleeing to Belarus or any other country that does not have an extradition treaty with the US is by no means a solution to the problem.

"Rather than fleeing this country, more Americans who treasure and operate within rule of law must make their grievances known peacefully and then back appropriate challengers to Anti-Constitutionalists at the ballot box", Ortel stresses. "Let us hope that more Americans will open their eyes, think for themselves and soon hold elected officials to account in 2022, 2024 and beyond".

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