A Jehovah’s witness who spent nearly a year in prison for refusing to serve in the Armenian army is likely to appeal to a higher Strasbourg court chamber after the international judicial body resolved his “conscientious objector” case against Armenia in favor of the latter.

On October 27, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the Vahan Bayatyan v Armenia case not to satisfy the claim of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religious organization member against the state, assuming as grounds mainly the circumstance that during his draft to the Armenian army (in 2001) Armenia did not have a law on alternative service (the law came into force only in 2004) and had not yet ratified the European Convention on Human Rights (it did so in April 2002).