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. 57. Liability shall not be imputed from associations to individuals or vice versa.43 Offenses committed by particular members of associations shall not be taken as grounds to penalize the association itself, where the official decision-making structure of the association was not employed to pursue those offenses. Similarly, offenses committed by an association, for instance through decisions of its officers, shall not be imputed to members of the association who did not take part in the offenses in question. 58. Suspension or dissolution of an association by the state may only be applied where there has been a serious violation of national law, in compliance with regional and international human rights law and as a matter of last resort.44 Suspension may only be taken following court order, and dissolution only following a full judicial procedure and the exhaustion of all available appeal mechanisms. Such judgments shall be made publicly available and shall be determined on the basis of clear legal criteria in accordance with regional and international human rights law. 59. Sanctions shall not be disproportionate or aimed at tightly controlling or penalizing associations without strong grounds. 1. In no cases shall associations be subject to sanctions on the basis that their activities breach their internal regulations, where the activities in question are otherwise lawful. 2. Monetary penalties shall be avoided to the extent possible. Where associations have failed to comply with a particular state requirement, the remedy shall be compliance with that requirement. Prior to the imposition of sanctions, a warning shall be issued and a reasonable period of time in which to comply with the regulations in question provided, where circumstances so allow. 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. 43 See International Pen and others (on behalf of Ken Saro-Wiwa) v. Nigeria, Comm. Nos. 137/94, 139/94, 154/96 & 161/97 (1998), para. 108. 44 The requisite level of gravity is only reached in cases involving the pursuit of illegitimate purposes, such as for example where the association in question aims at large-scale, coordinated intimidation of members of the general population, for instance on the basis of a racially-motivated position.