(b) Combating torture (1) Overview 165. In view of the fact that the country fully shares your point of view according to which sanctioning perpetrators of acts of torture is just as critical as taking preventive measures « such as the stoppage of incommunicado detention, the search for effective solutions within a transparent, independent and effective legal system and the continuation of investigations into allegations of torture54 », soon after the ratification of the Convention against torture and its adoption on 21 August 1986, Senegal initiated a number of actions aimed at giving concrete expression to its treaty commitments. 166. Thus, the country adopted Law n° 96-15 of 28 August 1996 supplementary to the penal Code, establishing a provision on criminalization of torture by referring to Article 1 of the Convention in accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of this same Convention55. Since then, attempted torture is penalized like a completed offence and persons found guilty of torture or attempted torture are liable to a term of imprisonment of 5 to 10 years and a fine of CFA 100.000 to 500.000 francs. Punishment for abetment of the offence of torture does not pose any problem in Senegalese law. On this legal basis, members of the security agencies have been arrested56 or sentenced57 for acts of torture. 167. Abetment is governed by Articles 45, 46 and 47, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code. It is always punishable, unless a special provision establishes otherwise. Furthermore, the principle of abetment of crime which is deeplyrooted in the Senegalese legal system imposes the same punishment on both the abettor and the principal offender. 168. Furthermore, completing the normative instruments relating to this subject matter, Senegal ratified on 20 September 2006, the Optional Protocol to the beggars or a judgment delivered by the Court for flagrant violations in Dakar on 8 September 2010 sentenced thirteen (13) persons for economic exploitation of children through begging which is also a human trafficking offence. Twelve (12) were sentenced to six (6) months imprisonment and fine of CFA 100,000 francs and the thirteenth person to a custodial sentence of one year and a fine of CFA one million francs. 54 CF. Communication No 48/90, 50/91, 52/91 and 89/93, Amnesty International, Comité Loosli Bachelard, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and the Association of Members of the Episcopal Conference of East Africa vs. Sudan, paragraph 56. 55 Paragraph 1 of Article 295 of the Penal Code. 56 For instance, the investigating judge issued a warrant for the detention at the 6th Judicial Investigating Office of the Dakar regional Court of Special jurisdiction, of five (5) auxiliary gendarmes of the Kédougou Gendarmerie Brigade (south east of the country) accused of having tortured to death in October 2012 the young Kékouta SIDIBE (See the Daily Newspaper, Le Soleil dated 30 November 2012) or the prosecution of three (3) police officers of the Multi-purpose Intervention Brigade (BIP) before the Dakar Military Court, who were identified as the alleged attackers of journalists of the TFM and the WARD (see the Daily Wal Fadjri of 18 September 2010). 57 Sergeant Ahmed Bessine DIOP, Deputy Commanding Officer of the Kédougou Gendarmerie Brigade was sentenced to two years custodial imprisonment on 14 December 2012 for the death of young Kékouta SIDIBE in the premises of his Brigade. 39