A Nigerian national requested to the Tribunal of Brescia to order the renewal of the residence permit for subsidiary protection. In 2016, the Territorial Commission has granted subsidiary protection to the applicant on basis of credibility of statements and  country-of-origin information on Nigeria related to terrorist activities of Boko Haram. The expiry date of the residence permit was 2 March 2021. The Questura of Bergamo notified the applicant that the procedure for renewal of the residence permit was initiated, and the Territorial Commission verified whether the requirements for international protection were still met for the applicant to continue to enjoy subsidiary protection. 

At the same time, the Questura of Bergamo stated that the application for renewal of the residence permit is conditioned on the presentation of a passport, which the applicant did not have. The applicant did not agree with the requirement and contested the decision of the Questura of Bergamo, requesting the Tribunal of Brescia to order the renewal. 

The Tribunal noted that Article 23 of Legislative Decree 251/2007 states that "holders of subsidiary protection status shall be issued a residence permit for subsidiary protection with three-year renewable validity upon verification of the permanence of the conditions that allowed the recognition of subsidiary protection." The Tribunal highlighted that this provision does not provide for any additional conditions for issuing a residence permits for refugee or subsidiary protection status holders. It added that Article 24 of Legislative Decree 251/2007, provides that the question of whether a passport is required (or impossible to obtain the same) arises exclusively with reference to the issuance of the so-called 'travel document' but does not refer, not even implicitly, to the issue of the residence permit. 

The Tribunal of Brescia emphasised that the applicant would be faced with an actual risk of suffering serious damage from the loss of educational and working opportunities without a renewed residence permit and recalled a previous decision of the Council of State (Judgment 3028/2014). The Tribunal referred to the Legislative Decree 251/2007 and underlined that these legislative provisions do not add any burden for subsidiary protection status holders to obtain the renewal of the residence permit, thus the additional requirement related to the passport was unlawful. The Tribunal noted that the Questura had sufficient documents related to the identity of the applicant in order to issue the renewed residence permit. The Tribunal of Brescia upheld the appeal and ordered the Questura of Bergamo to immediately issue the applicant a residence permit for subsidiary protection, finding that the request of the applicant must be treated with urgency in order for the later to have access to all the rights and benefits deriving from it.