In Shepherd v. Germany, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) issued a preliminary ruling requested by a German administrative court in an asylum case brought by a United States Army service member. Applying the relevant asylum law of the European Union (EU), the ECJ held that, under certain circumstances, a conscientious objector who has deserted from his military unit may claim international refugee protection. It also clarified the conditions under which the basically legitimate prosecution of military deserters must be qualified as illegitimate persecution under international refugee law.
