The applicant is a national of China who requested international protection in Italy alledging she belongs to the Almighty God church. She declared to have been arrested and beaten in China due to her religious belifs. The determining authority held that those treatments do not amount to torture.

The Court of Cassation upheld the appeal and stated that the principle applicable is to examine the narrative of the applicant as a whole - and not in an automatic way - even more if official sources report the existence of persecutions as declared by the applicant. The Court of Cassation underlined that the annulled contested decision was based on marginal inconsistencies and it did not take into consideration claims related to religious persecution, that were corroborated by updated country of origin information. The lower court thus failed to identify acts of torture in the acts of slaps, beating, and obligation to undress as described by the applicant. 

Consequently, the case was referred back to the Tribunal of Milan for re-examination in a different formation.