Senegal

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Background

The country of Senegal is comprised of 14 regions with the capital city called Dakar.[1] Senegal was once a French colony, and gained its independence on April 4, 1960. Senegal previously tried political unions with Mali in 1959 and Gambia in 1982, but neither of these unions lasted. Currently Senegal is officially a republic. It follows a type of new regime which was crafted by African States since the beginning of the 60s, which regime is characterized by presidential monocentrism[2].

For 40 years (since 1960), the Socialist Party was Senegal's principle political party, but in 2000, the leader of the Senegalese Democratic Party, Abdoulaye Wade, was elected president. Wade has been in the presidential position since 2000, winning the 2007 presidential elections as well.

Though French is the country's official language, there are several other languages spoken including Wolof, Pulaar, Serer, Diola, Mandingo, and Soninke.[3] Moreover, in terms of religious belief, Senegal is 95% Muslim, 4% Christian, ad 1% traditional religions.[4]

Type of System

The judicial system in Senegal is based on the French civil code. Under Article 88 of the Constitution, the judicial branch consists of the Conseil Constitutionnel, the Conseil d’Etat, the Cour de Cassation, the Cour des Comptes and the Courts and Tribunals.[5] The Conseil Constitutionnel has jurisdiction over the legality of laws passed by parliament. It is comprised of five judges, all of whom are appointed by the president. The Cour de Cassation is the highest court for civil and criminal matters while the Conseil d'Etat is the highest court for administrative law matters.[6] The Cour de Comptes has jurisdiction over checking public accounts.[7]

It should be noted that though Islamic and traditional laws are generally not officially incorporated into the Senegalese judicial system, principles from such law are still strongly influential.

Under the Code de Procedure Penale (Code of Criminal Procedure), article 218, the Cour d'Assises (criminal trial court) has jurisdiction to hear criminal law cases.[8]

Sources of Defendant's Rights

Article 257 of the Code de Procedure Penale provides that upon the start of the trial at the cour d'assises, the defendant must be represented by counsel. If the defendant does not have counsel of his own, the state will assign him an attorney. Article 260 provides a period of five days in which the attorney for the defendant may prepare before arguments, once the president of the cour d'assises has interviewed the defendant (i.e. verified the defendant's identity).


See Criminal Justice Systems Around the World

Notes

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