Hungarian President Katalin Novák announced her resignation Saturday following outrage sparked by a decision to pardon a man convicted of covering up child sexual abuse.
“I am speaking to you for the last time today as head of state. I am resigning from the office of president of the republic,” Katalin Novák said in a speech on Saturday, acknowledging that she had made “a mistake.”
“I apologise to those who I hurt and all the victims who may have had the impression that I did not support them. I am, I was and I will remain in favour of protecting children and families,” Novák, 46, said.
The controversy was sparked by the pardon given last April, amid a visit by Pope Francis to Budapest, to a former deputy director of a children’s home who helped to cover up his boss sexually abusing children and adolescents there.
Orbán: “No Mercy for Pedophiles”
After details about the pardon were revealed last week, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced on Thursday that he had submitted a constitutional amendment on behalf of the government that would make it impossible to pardon anyone convicted of child sexual abuse.
Later, on Thursday night, Orbán also appeared on his Facebook page with a post entitled “No mercy for pedophiles.”
Judit Varga, head of Fidesz list for European elections, also resigns
Minutes after Novák’s resignation, Judit Varga also announced her “withdrawal from public life” for having given her approval for the pardon as justice minister—a post she left in order to lead a European Parliament election bid.
“I renounce my mandate as an MP and the head of the list for the European Parliament,” she said on Facebook.
Judit Varga emphasized that she takes “political responsibility for countersigning the president’s decision,” explaining:
The validity of the president’s individual pardon decision requires the countersignature of the Minister of Justice. I continued the more than 25-year-old practice that the Minister of Justice takes note of the president’s clemency decision. I take political responsibility for countersigning the president’s decision.
