26 June 2005 :

“I shall endeavour to be a guide for the future, to create a future for Africa,” President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal said on receiving the Abolitionist of the Year Award.  The award was presented to President Wade by the President of the Italian Chamber of Representatives Pier Ferdinando Casini.
The Abolitionist of the Year Award was inaugurated in 2005 by Hands Off Cain in recognition of outstanding commitment in favour of a moratorium on executions and the abolition of the death penalty. Senegal abolished the death penalty for all crimes on December 10, 2004, World Human Rights’ Day, as the National Assembly unanimously approved a proposal by President Wade. 
President Wade described receiving the award as an “emotional moment” which encouraged him in his choices. His said his decision to propose complete abolition in Senegal had been maturing since he was a child, when, witnessing children and elderly women being put to death, he used to think, “if one day I become president, I will not allow this.” His belief that the death penalty was not and could not be a punishment was reinforced over time, encouraged by Victor Hugo’s effort to put one in the condemned man’s shoes. Converted to complete abolition and before being voted into power, he said, he made himself think of the choice he would have to face if he ever had to sign a death sentence. “If this ever happened, I thought that day, I would prefer to resign as president,” Wade said.