The federal appeals court based in Denver rejected an appeal on Wednesday from a citizen of Russia and Georgia who fled to the U.S. rather than join Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.

Although the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit had not previously addressed an immigration appeal containing similar circumstances, a three-judge panel did not analyze the substance of Temuri Gurchiani’s arguments for avoiding forced conscription. Instead, it concluded he failed to argue he would likely face persecution based on protected categories like race, religion or political viewpoint.

In the underlying case, Gurchiani left for the United States in October 2022, approximately eight months after Russia entered Ukraine. Shortly after the invasion, Russian police and military personnel had visited his workplace to enlist him in the operation. Gurchiani declined, prompting them to physically beat and threaten him.

Once in the U.S., Gurchiani sought protection from deportation and asylum. Both avenues require a demonstration of past or future persecution based on an applicant’s protected status.

Gurchiani, who was detained in Colorado, entered the country “seeking refuge from the reach of Vladimir Putin’s totalitarian regime, as Mr. Gurchiani refused to be conscripted to proliferate human rights abuses against Ukraine on Russia’s behalf,” his attorney, Griffin S. Rubin, told the 10th Circuit during arguments last year.

However, an immigration judge in Fort Worth, Texas, determined the attack Gurchiani suffered in Russia was not based on any protected category. On appeal, Board of Immigration Appeals member Keith E. Hunsucker also sided against Gurchiani, finding no likelihood of future persecution — as courts have defined it — if Gurchiani were to return home.

“(F)orced conscription or punishment for evasion of military duty generally does not constitute persecution,” he wrote.

The 10th Circuit panel ultimately identified a fatal flaw in Gurchiani’s appeal of the decision: His attorney neglected to address the immigration judge’s finding that Gurchiani’s persecution could not be linked to any legally protected status.

“Mr. Gurchiani raised no nexus-related arguments in any of his appellate briefs,” wrote Judge Veronica S. Rossman, a Russian-born appointee of President Joe Biden whose own family left the Soviet Union for political and religious reasons.

Gurchiani’s attorney declined to comment on the decision, saying his client had already been deported.

The case is Gurchiani v. Garland.