Hungary's President Steps Down Amidst Outcry Over Child Sex Abuse Case

 Hungarian President Katalin Novák announced Saturday she would resign, admitting she “made a mistake” by issuing a pardon last year for a man convicted in a child sex abuse case, a decision that sparked calls for her ouster after it was recently made public.

 Novák announced her decision on Hungarian television, saying she “made a mistake” by issuing the pardon, which “caused bewilderment and unrest for many people.”

The pardon was issued because Novák believed the convicted man “did not abuse the vulnerability of the children entrusted to him,” though she noted the decision involved “the lack of justification” that raised “doubts about zero tolerance for pedophilia.”

Her resignation follows a string of protests outside Novák’s presidential office in Budapest over the last week, after Hungarian outlets revealed Novák pardoned the man, the former deputy director of a state-run children’s home who was sentenced to over three years in prison in 2018 for hiding a sex abuse scandal under the home’s former director.

Judit Varga, Hungary’s former justice minister who endorsed Novák’s pardon, said she would also resign as a member of the Hungarian parliament and “retire from public life.”

Novák was both the first woman and youngest person to be elected Hungary’s president after she won in 2022 at age 44, according to the Associated Press.

Novák was elected Hungary’s president in 2022 after advocating for conservative, traditional family values. Novák—seen as a key Orbán ally—previously served as the vice president of Fidesz, Hungary’s governing right-wing political party, and as Hungary’s minister for families. Though Novák was president, Orbán still holds the most executive power because the prime minister is the head of government in Hungary. Last week, Hungarian outlets uncovered Novák’s pardon for a man convicted in a child sex abuse scandal at a state-run children’s home in Bicske, Hungary. The unnamed man was convicted in 2018 after prosecutors determined he knew the home’s director—who was sentenced to eight years in prison—molested several children between 2004 and 2016. The man also pressured some victims to retract their claims of sexual abuse. Protests subsequently erupted throughout Hungary with calls for Novák’s resignation.