Norway has granted asylum to a Polish man who was facing imprisonment for fraud and documentation, saying the sentence was a form of political repression under Poland’s right-wing government.
Observers say Rafa Gauves’s case has given political asylum to the pole more than 30 years after the fall of communism in Poland. They see it as another sign that international confidence in Poland’s justice system has been undermined by the government, which keeps it under political control.
But Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pavel Zeblonsky noted that the investigation into Gavel’s financial dealings was opened under the previous liberal government.
The decision by the Norwegian Immigration Appeals Board (UNE) to grant refugee status, announced last week, gives Gave, his wife and daughter the right to stay in Norway for one year. Gave and his wife are allowed to work.
“I am the first pole to win asylum since communist times,” Gavel told the Associated Press by phone from Norway. “I’m sure I saved my life, because if I had gone to prison in Poland, I could not have expected a better future.” “I was hated by the government.”
He said that during the nearly two-year proceedings, he handed over all documents, including the court sentence, to the immigration body, and explained every sensation about his situation. “It’s not that they don’t know who sheltered them,” Gavel said.
The department head of the board, Marianne Granalunde, told the Norwegian VG newspaper that it was very rare to give asylum to citizens of European countries.
“The documentation here was so comprehensive and the plaintiff’s disclosure was so credible that the UNE was convinced that it was entitled to protection,” he said.
Guevara’s lawyer ukasz Niedzielski said Monday that the asylum in Guevara’s case could be easily extended. He said the board has seen all the relevant documents, including the Polish court ruling.
Justifying its decisions, the board argued that Poland’s courts have been politicized and the system of checks and balances destroyed, while the state has failed to combat the activity of far-right organizations.
Earlier, Norway rejected Poland’s request for extradition. Several other European courts have refused to extradite Poland, saying they cannot hold a proper hearing under the Polish government.
Gauves fled Poland in January 2019, shortly before a Polish appeals court upheld Rafa Gave’s sentence and sentenced him to two years in prison for forging signatures and forging financial documents. Further investigation is ongoing.
Gave, who is the founder and head of the Center for Monitoring Racists and Xenophobic Behavior, based in Bystst, eastern Poland, denies any wrongdoing and insists that blaming is a form of persecution for group activity.
He says his organization has exposed the relationship between local officials, prosecutors and far-right groups in Beastst.
