Hungarian President Katalin Novak resigned today, after pardoning a man convicted of covering up crimes committed by a sexual abuser in a children’s home, reports Reuters.
More than 1,000 people gathered today in Budapest, demanding the resignation of Novak, a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the Brussels portal Politiko reported earlier.
Hungary’s opposition parties have spent the week calling for Novak’s ouster, as well as Judit Varga, the former justice minister who signed the pardon and is expected to head the ruling Fidesz party’s list for this year’s European Parliament elections.
Although it was well known that Novak pardoned around 20 people ahead of Pope Francis’ visit to Hungary in April 2023, it was only recently revealed that one of the people who benefited from this measure was the deputy director of a children’s home convicted of cover-up a sex offender who molested children in that institution.
Novak admitted this week that the pardons were divisive, but insisted that she “would never pardon a pedophile.”
In an attempt to quell popular anger over the case, Orbán’s Fidesz party tabled a constitutional amendment on Thursday to ban future pardons from benefiting in any way people convicted of crimes against children.
