Hungary’s President Resigns for Granting Pardon to Child Sexual Abuse Convict

Hungary’s president Katalin Novák (46) resigned because of the public outcry against her decision to grant to grant pardon to a man convicted in a child sexual abuse case.

In a televised message on Saturday, Katalin Novák informed that she would step down from the presidency, an office she has held since 2022.

Around a week back, it was revealed that in April 2023 she granted a presidential pardon to a man convicted of hiding a string of child sexual abuses in a state-run children’s home.

“I made a mistake,” Novák said in her statement.

Novák’s resignation came as a rare episode of political turmoil for Hungary’s nationalist governing party Fidesz, which has ruled with a constitutional majority since 2010.

Novák was the first female president in Hungary’s history, and the youngest person appointed to the post.

The man she pardoned was sentenced in 2018 to more than three years in prison. He was found guilty of pressuring victims to retract their claims of sexual abuse by the institution’s director, who was sentenced to eight years for abusing at least 10 children between 2004 and 2016.