On December 14, 2017, a news conference was held in the Chamber of Deputies, the Parliament of Italy in Rome, over the issue of Religious Freedom Violations in China—a Case Study of Persecution Against Christian Minorities. An internationally renowned research expert on new religions, Professor Massimo Introvigne, spoke at the conference and introduced his findings on The Church of Almighty God, confirming that the Zhaoyuan McDonald’s homicide case of 2014 in Shandong Province had nothing to do with The Church of Almighty God, that the CCP’s coverage of the case was false news fabricated by the CCP to persecute and suppress The Church of Almighty God. At the same time, he presented a study jointly completed with Mr. Willy Fautré, chairman of the Human Rights Without Frontiers. The report shows that despite having the largest number of people arrested in China, and more members seeking refuge in Italy and Europe than any other areas, the passing rate for the asylum applications of The Church of Almighty God’s members in Italy is merely 10%, while there have been several cases of repatriation in Switzerland. He indicated that this represented a grave violation of the International Refugee Convention, thereby expressing his strong condemnation. He called on all European countries to show solicitude for the persecution against Christians of The Church of Almighty God and the status quo of their applications for asylum as refugees.
