The first female president in the history of Hungary, Katalin Novak, resigned this Saturday amid mass protests against the pardon of a man involved in a case of sexual abuse of minors. The decision of the Conservative leader, a close ally of the Prime Minister Viktor Orbantriggered an unprecedented political scandal that put the ultra-conservative government in distress.
Novák, 46, announced in a televised message that he was stepping down from the presidency, which he has held for two years. “I issued a pardon that caused confusion and discomfort among many people. “I made a mistake,” he admitted in his speech a few hours after returning from Qatar, where he had watched his country’s national team play against Kazakhstan at the World Water Polo Championships.
Novák, a devout Calvinist who led a rapid rise through the ranks of the nationalist Fidesz and was a staunch supporter of the party’s “traditional Christian family” and conservative values, was pardoned last April on the occasion of Pope Francis’ visit to Budapest. a children’s home director who tried to cover up a dozen cases of pedophilia, the local press revealed.
Thousands of people gathered in front of the presidential office on Friday to demand the resignation of the head of state, a purely symbolic and representative office. However, his prerogatives include signing pardons for prisoners at the government’s suggestion.
The pardoned mediator of sexual abuse of minors was sentenced to more than three years in prison for pressuring victims to recant allegations of sexual abuse by the head of the institution, who in turn was sentenced to eight years in prison for abusing at least 10 children between 2004 and 2016.
Orbán proposed a constitutional amendment that would ban pardons for those convicted of crimes against children in an attempt to quell the mobilizations, but without success.