Hungary’s president, Katalin Novák, tendered her resignation on Saturday amidst widespread public outcry following a controversial pardon she granted to a man convicted as an accomplice in a child sexual abuse case.
The pardon, issued in April 2023, sparked an unprecedented political scandal for the long-standing nationalist government.
In a televised announcement, Novák, 46, stated her decision to step down from the presidency, a position she has held since 2022.
Her resignation follows over a week of public outrage over the revelation that she pardoned a man convicted of concealing a series of child sexual abuses in a state-run children’s home.
“I decided to grant a pardon last April, believing that the convict did not exploit the vulnerability of the children whom he had overseen,” Novak said in her speech during a national televised address on Saturday.
“I made a mistake, as the pardon and the lack of reasoning were conducive to triggering doubts about the zero tolerance that applies to paedophilia,” she said.
In April 2023, Novak granted pardons to around two dozen individuals ahead of a visit by Pope Francis, including the deputy director of a children’s home who aided the former director in concealing his crimes.
The former director had been sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually abusing underage boys from 2004 to 2016, as reported by Reuters. The deputy director received a three-year sentence.
During the time of the protests at Novak’s office, she was on an official visit to Doha, according to Reuters. The Hungarian opposition parties have called for Novak’s resignation in response to the controversy.
Novak, a staunch ally of Hungary’s hardline nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán, previously served as the family minister.
In 2022, she made history by becoming the first woman to assume the predominantly ceremonial role of Hungarian president.
In her televised address on Saturday, Novak issued an apology to the victims and their families, acknowledging that she had “made a mistake.”
Her apology was “to those whom I may have offended and to all the victims who might have felt that I did not stand up for them,” Novak said, adding that she had always “consistently advocated for the protection of children and families.”
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