Rafał Gaweł
Rafał Gaweł is the founder of the "Racist and Xenophobic Behaviour Monitoring Centre" ( OMZRiK), a Polish anti-racism monitoring group. In 2019 Polish authorities sentenced him to a two-year prison term, however Gaweł was awarded temporary political asylum on 30 September 2020 in Norway. The asylum was granted for three reasons: the lack of the possibility of a fair trial, the lack of Polish authorities' control of extreme-right militias, and the criminal case against him appearing to constitute political persecution by Polish authorities. It is the first time that a Polish person has been granted political  asylum since the fall of Communism in the country. Theatre and OMZRiK. Gaweł is known in Białystok, a city in Poland near the border with Belarus, as the director of the "" () and as the founder and head of the Centre for Monitoring Racist and Xenophobic Behaviour ( OMZRiK), a Polish anti-racism monitoring group. OMZRiK monitored crimes involving racist motives and submitted legal cases against them. In 2017, OMZRiK lodged 45 legal cases of this sort. Gaweł stated that the Prosecutor's office was unhappy to receive the complaints. One of OMZRiK's cases that achieved major media interest was related  to a prosecutor, Dawid Roszkowski, who refused to carry out prosecutions for use of the swastika on the grounds of its use in Hinduism. Roszkowski's superior was fired. Roszkowski was later promoted to head of the South Białystok Prosecutor's Office. Criminal case. During the court trials in 2016 it was proved that Rafał Gaweł had committed numerous financial and economic crimes. In 2017, Gaweł and two colleagues were accused of major financial fraud in relation to "ThreeThings" and OMZRiK, with claims that he had frauded a bank of and the Stefan Batory Foundation of . Gaweł pleaded "not guilty . The Stefan Batory Foundation confirmed the claim that it had been frauded. In January 2019, Gaweł was sentenced to two years' prison, after having appealed an initial sentence of four years. Political asylum. On 7 January 2019, Gaweł and his family fled for his safety to Norway, without a passport, and with help from a diplomatic contact". He and his family were awarded political asylum on 30 September 2020 in Norway for three reasons: he had an unfair trial and was unlikely to obtain a fair trial; Polish authorities did not prevent the activities of right-wing militias; and the  criminal case against him appeared to be a case of political persecution by Polish authorities. Gaweł's lawyer, Łukasz Niedzielski, described Gaweł's situation as political persecution disguised as a criminal case. Gaweł's case is a rare case of asylum granted in Europe to a European Union (EU) citizen. One Pole was granted asylum in Norway in 2019, out of 18 EU citizens granted asylum in Norway during 2010–2019. Gaweł was given an initial refugee status for one year, which is renewable and convertible to permanent residency.