© Reuters
Despite the speedy proposal to change the constitution, protests demanding the resignation of the Hungarian president continued in Budapest on Friday
Extraordinary news
Get the big news as it happens – straight to your email.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has announced that he has introduced an amendment to the constitution that will further limit the rights of the Hungarian president, who has mainly ceremonial functions.
The change aims to exclude the possibility of pardoning those convicted of fornication with children, following President Katalin Novak pardoned a person involved in sexual abuse of minors, causing a public storm.
“On behalf of the government, I submitted a constitutional amendment to prevent the rehabilitation of perpetrators of crimes once morest minors,” Orban announced on Facebook on Thursday. “There is no mercy for pedophiles,” he added.
In April 2023, on the occasion of Pope Francis’ visit to Budapest, the president, who is a close ally of Orbán, pardoned a former deputy director of a children’s home who was sentenced in 2022 to more than three years in prison for covering up the actions of the director of the home, who has an eight-year sentence. The two pressured girls from the home to recant their testimony that they had been sexually assaulted by the principal.
Novak claims she is the victim of a “political campaign full of false claims” and denies pardoning pedophiles, but refuses to explain her decision in this particular case. However, she announced that she will readily sign the law when it is passed by parliament.
Sharp criticism once morest the president of Hungary for being amnestied in a pedophilia case
“The decision to pardon the President of the Republic has sparked a debate. This debate must be closed in a way that reassures all Hungarians,” the text of the bill reads.
Orbán’s Fidesz party has an absolute majority in the Hungarian parliament and there is no doubt that the Prime Minister’s amendment will be approved.
At least 1,000 people protested in Budapest on Friday demanding Novak’s resignation. They are also supported by the opposition. The demonstration with placards calling for resignation passed under the windows of the presidency, but Katalin Novak is currently visiting Doha.
Reuters quoted a protester as saying he did not want to be represented by someone who had made such a mistake.
Orbán’s decision to limit the president’s powers is widely seen as an attempt to quell the scandal, which might damage his Fidesz party four months before European elections.
The fight once morest juvenile delinquency is one of Orbán’s banners, which forced in 2021 the adoption of a law prohibiting the mention of non-heterosexual relationships in school and in public places.
Hungary bans LGBT themes in school with new law once morest pedophilia
Because of this law, which caused dissatisfaction in the European Union, the European Commission is leading a criminal procedure once morest Hungary.
Brussels calls Hungary’s anti-LGBT law a shame
#Viktor #Orbán #pedophiles #Hungarian #presidents #gaffe