JSON does not contain array for multiple checkbox selections

If I set up a checkbox or select that allows multiple selections, I expect to receive the responses in JSON as an array, but I receive a comma separated text list, which doesn’t work for further processing (in this case with CiviCRM through the CiviCRM Contact Form 7 plugin).

For example, if I have a form with:

[checkbox your-country "China" "India" "San Marino"]

and I submit the form with all three options selected, I expect to receive these values in an array in JSON:

{"your_country":["China","India","San Marino"]}

But what I receive is:

{"your_country":"China, India, San Marino"}

Is this the intended behaviour or perhaps a bug?