GÄFGEN v. GERMANY JUDGMENT 35 123. The Court further observes that the police officers were found guilty of coercion and incitement to coercion respectively, under the provisions of German criminal law, for their conduct in their interrogation of the applicant which was in contravention of Article 3. However, the Court notes that they were sentenced for this contravention only to very modest and suspended fines. The Court reiterates in this connection that it is not its task to rule on the degree of individual guilt (see Öneryıldız v. Turkey [GC], no. 48939/99, § 116, ECHR 2004-XII, and Nachova and Others v. Bulgaria [GC], nos. 43577/98 and 43579/98, § 147, ECHR 2005-VII), or to determine the appropriate sentence of an offender, those being matters falling within the exclusive jurisdiction of the national criminal courts. However, under Article 19 of the Convention and in accordance with the principle that the Convention is intended to guarantee rights that are not theoretical or illusory, but practical and effective, the Court has to ensure that a State’s obligation to protect the rights of those under its jurisdiction is adequately discharged (see Nikolova and Velichkova, cited above, § 61, with further references). It follows that while the Court acknowledges the role of the national courts in the choice of appropriate sanctions for ill-treatment by State agents, it must retain its supervisory function and intervene in cases of manifest disproportion between the gravity of the act and the punishment imposed. Otherwise, the State’s duty to carry out an effective investigation would lose much of its meaning (see Nikolova and Velichkova, cited above, § 62; compare also Ali and Ayşe Duran, cited above, § 66). 124. The Court does not overlook the fact that the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court, in determining D.’s and E.’s sentences, took into consideration a number of mitigating circumstances (see paragraph 50 above). It accepts that the present application is not comparable to other cases concerning arbitrary and serious acts of brutality by State agents which the latter then attempted to conceal, and in which the Court considered that the imposition of enforceable prison sentences would have been more appropriate (compare, for instance, Nikolova and Velichkova, cited above, § 63, and Ali and Ayşe Duran, cited above, §§ 67-72). Nevertheless, imposing almost token fines of 60 and 90 daily payments of EUR 60 and EUR 120 respectively, and, furthermore, opting to suspend them, cannot be considered an adequate response to a breach of Article 3, even seen in the context of the sentencing practice in the respondent State. Such punishment, which is manifestly disproportionate to a breach of one of the core rights of the Convention, does not have the necessary deterrent effect in order to prevent further violations of the prohibition of ill-treatment in future difficult situations. 125. As to the disciplinary sanctions imposed, the Court notes that during the investigation and trial of D. and E., both were transferred to posts which no longer involved direct association with the investigation of