Criminal law in Senegal

Senegalese criminal law follows the principle that no one may be convicted unless a law in force before the act defined the conduct as an offence. Criminal responsibility is generally personal: a person answers for their own conduct, while a complice can generally receive the same punishment as the auteur of a crime or délit unless a law provides otherwise. Offences are classified as crimes, délits or contraventions according to the statutory penalty. French is the predominant language of legal and court proceedings, so terms such as Procureur de la République, officier de police judiciaire, juge d’instruction, partie civile and garde à vue appear in official procedures. Police judiciaire officers investigate under the direction of the Procureur de la République. A complaint can be filed at a police station or gendarmerie brigade with an OPJ, or directly with the Procureur. The relevant prosecutor may be connected to the place of the offence, the suspect’s residence or the place of arrest. The prosecutor receives complaints and reports, directs investigations and decides whether to prosecute, seek médiation pénale or classer sans suite. A classement sans suite does not end every possible legal option: in suitable circumstances, a harmed party can initiate public prosecution by constitution de partie civile. The complainant should receive notice of a classement sans suite within eight days. The main investigative forms are enquête préliminaire, enquête de flagrance and information judiciaire. During an information judiciaire, the juge d’instruction can order investigative measures, questioning, searches, seizures and warrants, and can issue an ordonnance de non-lieu or send the case for trial. Investigations and judicial inquiries are generally secret. During garde à vue, the ordinary period is 48 hours, with a possible further 48-hour extension authorised in writing by the Procureur or juge d’instruction. Special rules can double these periods for state-security matters and during a legally declared state of siege or emergency. The reasons, start and end times, questioning and breaks should appear in the official record. A person has a right to consult a conseil confidentially for up to 30 minutes under the applicable procedure, and can request a medical examination through the prosecutor. The Chambre d’accusation can be asked to review alleged misuse of garde à vue by the Procureur Général or a victim. The Tribunal de grande instance handles ordinary first-instance criminal matters, including correctional cases and crimes within the relevant rules. The Tribunal d’instance handles simple police matters and other legally assigned offences. Senegal has six Cours d’Appel, while the Cour suprême examines cassation and does not normally rehear the facts as another trial court. Hearings are generally public, although the court can order huis clos where public order or morality risks justify it. The public prosecutor also carries out criminal decisions. Prescription periods in the Code of Criminal Procedure are generally ten years for crimes, three years for délits, one year for contraventions and seven years for misappropriation of public funds, subject to special laws, interruption rules and statutory suspensions. A directly harmed natural or legal person can become a partie civile and seek réparation for material, bodily and moral damage. Useful evidence includes identity details, dates and places, witness information, medical certificates, messages, photographs and other records connected with the alleged offence. A complaint alone does not guarantee prosecution. Médiation pénale can take place before the prosecutor decides on public prosecution, but it requires the parties’ agreement and aims at repair, ending the disturbance or reclassement. The attempt generally takes place within 15 days after the mediator is appointed; if it fails, the Procureur decides whether to prosecute. Withdrawal of the civil claim generally does not end public prosecution. An item belonging to a victim may also be protected from confiscation when restitution is possible. The reviewed sources do not establish a general state victim-compensation fund as a standard arrangement, and costs depend on the case and any appeals. Aide juridictionnelle is expressly available for Cour suprême proceedings to Senegalese citizens and foreigners ordinarily resident in Senegal who lack sufficient means, either fully or partly; wider practical availability should be checked for the specific proceeding. Sanctions can include imprisonment or réclusion criminelle, fines in FCFA, confiscation and additional measures such as disqualification, loss of civic rights, treatment, an obligation to act, closure, publication or dissemination of the decision. Confiscation can cover instruments of the offence, its object and direct or indirect proceeds. In certain crimes or délits carrying at least four years’ imprisonment, assets of unexplained origin may also be affected, while good-faith third-party rights and property that can be returned to victims receive protection. The Procureur de la République and ONRAC implement asset recovery, and the Direction générale de l’Administration pénitentiaire manages imprisonment and rehabilitation. Depending on the law and decision, arrangements can include conditional release, semi-liberty, placement extérieur, an electronic bracelet or community service. Companies and other legal entities can generally face criminal responsibility for offences committed by their organs or representatives for their benefit. This rule excludes the State, collectivités territoriales, établissements publics and agences d’exécution under the stated statutory framework. Possible sanctions include a fine of up to five times the amount applicable to a natural person, dissolution, activity or market restrictions, financing restrictions, closure, confiscation and publication of the decision. Special rules apply to young people. Children under 13 are criminally irresponsible. From 13 to 18, criminal responsibility is handled exclusively by the tribunal pour enfants, with priority given to protection, assistance, supervision and education; a criminal conviction remains possible for a minor over 13. Measures can include return to parents or a trusted person, institutional, medical-educational or educational placement, and liberté surveillée up to the age of 21. DESPS, AEMO, centres de sauvegarde and socio-educational services support this framework. Minors who are accused, victims or witnesses require separate protection. The official framework refers to 11 tribunaux pour enfants, but service coverage gaps have been reported in Kaffrine, Sédhiou and Kédougou and should be checked for the current case. Road offences are governed in part by the modernised Code de la Route under Law No. 2022-04. Conduct, licences, safety, accidents, vehicles, documents and data can trigger criminal sanctions alongside administrative measures. Video-based enforcement and fixed penalties were regulated by Decree No. 2025-1753, but nationwide implementation in 2026 has not been fully established; current regulatory provisions and local enforcement should therefore be checked. Digital offences include unauthorised system access, interference with data or systems, interception, computer fraud, unlawful data processing, child sexual-abuse material, racist or xenophobic content and offences affecting national defence. Law No. 2008-11 added provisions to the Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, including special measures for rapid data preservation, searches, seizure, real-time data collection and interception. Penalties vary by offence and can range from fines of about FCFA 100,000 to FCFA 20,000,000, with life imprisonment possible for certain defence-related offences. The Commission de Protection des Données personnelles and ARTP have functional roles, while the Procureur directs criminal prosecution. Data-protection and electronic-communications laws supplement the criminal rules. A parliamentary project concerning digital security adopted on 20 August 2026 should not be treated as current criminal law until promulgation and entry into force are verified. Financial and corruption cases can fall within the Pool judiciaire financier created by Law No. 2023-14. The specialised jurisdiction centred on the TGI hors classe de Dakar and the Cour d’Appel de Dakar covers economic and financial crimes and délits, corruption, misappropriation of public funds, money laundering, terrorist financing, migrant trafficking, illicit enrichment, banking and stock-market offences and related piracy matters. It can also cover fraud or breach of trust involving several participants or victims, cases spanning jurisdictions or losses of at least FCFA 50,000,000. The financial prosecutor’s office should receive relevant files within 72 hours, and instruction is compulsory for the core categories defined by law. ONRAC supports the recovery of criminal assets. Article 319 of the Criminal Code was amended by Law No. 2026-08 of 27 March 2026. In its current wording, it defines acte contre nature to include a sexual act between persons of the same sex or a sexual act involving a corpse or an animal, with a stated penalty of five to ten years’ imprisonment and a fine of FCFA 2,000,000 to FCFA 10,000,000. The provision also contains specific rules for minors, including the highest applicable term, exclusion of a suspended sentence and limits on reducing the minimum penalty. Apologie carries three to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of FCFA 500,000 to FCFA 5,000,000; financing or support carries the same penalty range, and a bad-faith report can carry two to five years and a fine of FCFA 500,000 to FCFA 2,000,000. Additional civic-rights restrictions can last ten years. The exact current text and any later amendments should be checked before relying on these provisions in a live case.