By Guy Page
Christopher Helali’s trip to Iran to honor slain Ayatollah Khameini earlier this month (July 13, “Congressman, Vermonters cry treason on VT elected official in Iran”) wasn’t his only controversial trip abroad since his 2024 election as high bailiff of Orange County.
Since his November write-in election to the unpaid county post, and after he accompanied an anti-Israel activist Mohsen Mahdawi to a detention hearing in Colchester in April, 2025, Helali was reported by a Vermont community newspaper to be living in Russia.
The Herald newspaper serving the White River Valley reported Sept. 25, 2025, that Orange County High Bailiff Christopher Helali was at the time living and working in Moscow, Russia, despite holding elected office in Vermont.
Helali, a Vershire resident elected as a write-in candidate, told Herald reporter Maryellen Apelquist by phone from Moscow that he feels safer in Russia than in the United States because of what he described as growing political violence. He cited the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and said he would return to Vermont if his duties as high bailiff were ever required. It is not clear whether his involvement in the highly-publicized Mahdawi incident, including his photograph of Mahdawi being escorted by ICE agents, was a factor in his decision to live in Russia.
Helali, whose trip to Iran coincided with his July 8 resignation as International Secretary of the American Communist Party, also has ties with North Korea, although there is no evidence that he has visited the world’s most repressive regime. According to Wikipedia, on February 13, 2026, ACP hosted events both in New Jersey and Florida to commemorate the 84th birthday of deceased North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
Wikipedia reports that at the events, ACP speakers expressed full support for Kim’s son Kim Jong Un and voiced support for his re-election as General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea at the party’s 9th Congress. In March 2026, Helali also met with the president of the DPRK International Solidarity Group Zheng Yutong, who expressed her plans on “strengthening ties with progressive forces such as the American Communist Party”.
Helali also told the Herald he now works for an international law firm that operates in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. He previously taught at a Hanover, NH high school and farmed in Vermont and said he has had previous encounters with federal authorities because of his political activities and his past service fighting against ISIS in Syria.
The office of high bailiff is one of Vermont’s oldest elected positions but is rarely used. A high bailiff steps in if a county sheriff becomes unable to serve or if the office becomes vacant, and also has the authority to arrest a sheriff if necessary.
The Herald also reported that the Vermont Secretary of State’s Office said there is no residency requirement for high bailiffs or other county officers under current state law, meaning Helali can continue serving while living overseas. Former Windsor County High Bailiff Bobby Sand told the newspaper the largely ceremonial office could be modernized to provide greater oversight and accountability of county law enforcement.
Since posting live video from Qom, Iran, Helali has continued to post on his X page but it is unclear whether he has left Iran to return to Russia, the United States or any other country.