6 July 2010, the Court of Appeal ruled unanimously that a Canadian immigration official (S. Parr) decision (22 July 2008), and also the lower court's upholding of that decision (2 June 2009), both failed to consider the "hardships" of Hinzman. The court said the rejection of Hinzman's permanent residence application was "significantly flawed" because the officer did not take into consideration Hinzman's "strong moral and religious beliefs" against participation in the war. That means officials must take another look at Hinzman's application to remain in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. Hinzman's lawyer, Alyssa Manning, said, that his "officer missed the point and only considered refugee-type questions." Refugee cases typically only consider risk to life or risk of persecution. "An H&C [officer] is supposed to consider humanitarian and compassionate values — the questions inherent with an H&C application," Manning said. "Hinzman's beliefs, his whole reasons for being in Canada in the first place, weren't considered by the H&C officer, and that's what was significantly flawed about [the officer's] decision." Hinzman's case will now go back for another hearing before a different immigration officer. Michelle Robidoux, a spokeswoman with the War Resisters Support Campaign, said the appellate ruling is important for other war resisters in Canada as well. Arguments It has been widely argued that Hinzman is not a prisoner of conscience because he has not been persecuted for his claimed new-found beliefs. In the United States military, desertion is a crime, specifically a federal offense under Article 85 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, despite his claimed motivation. Hinzman's application for conscientious objector status was denied due to the fact that he was known to have made statements to the effect that he would consider participating in certain types of defensive actions. Conscientious objector status is only granted to those in the U.S. military who object to all warfare, not to military personnel who object to a specific war or conflict. Hinzman enlisted voluntarily in the Army, volunteered for infantry duty, and further volunteered for airborne training, a series of deliberate and conscious decisions on Hinzman's part which would practically guarantee combat duty. These circumstances cause critics to be skeptical as to the sincerity of Hinzman's claims to being a conscientious objector. Such critics have suggested that, if Hinzman were sincere in his beliefs, he would return to the United States voluntarily and accept whatever consequences his actions and