VI. Federations and Cooperation 50. Associations shall be free to create national federations with legal status through procedures substantively equivalent to those through which associations are created. Associations shall also be free to create informal (de facto) national federations. 51. Associations and national federations shall be able to join international federations, and international federations shall be able to obtain legal status in particular countries through procedures substantively equivalent to those through which international associations may obtain such status. 52. The decision to form or not to form federations shall be made freely by civil society actors. The state shall not stipulate by law the existence of particular or exclusive regional or national federations of associations.39 53. The law shall not stipulate mandatory state membership of particular federations.40 54. States and officials shall refrain from interfering in domestic and international civil society space through the creation, operation or provision of covert support for non-independent civil society organizations. VII. Sanctions and Remedies 55. States shall not impose criminal sanctions in the context of laws governing not-for-profit associations.41 All criminal sanctions shall be specified within the penal code and not elsewhere. Civil society shall not be governed by provisions of criminal law different from the generally applicable provisions of the penal code.42 56. Sanctions shall be applied only in narrow and lawfully prescribed circumstances, shall be strictly proportionate to the gravity of the misconduct in question, and shall only be applied by an impartial, independent and regularly constituted court, following a full trial and appeal process. 39 See Civil Liberties Organisation (in respect of the Nigerian Bar Association) v. Nigeria, Comm. No. 101/93 (1995), paras. 14-6. 40 See Civil Liberties Organisation (in respect of the Nigerian Bar Association) v. Nigeria, Comm. No. 101/93 (1995), paras. 14-6. 41 On the related issue of the inappropriate application of criminal measures to associations, see Malawi African Association and others v. Mauritania, Comm. Nos. 54/91, 61/91, 98/93, 164-196/97 & 210/98 (2000), paras. 106-7. 42 Relating, for example, to fraud, embezzlement and similar offenses. 20 |  African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights