Pedophile scandal: PM Orbán reacts, President Novák insists on shocking pardon

President Novák PM Orbán
Photo: MTI

“There shall be no mercy for paedophiles,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Thursday, adding that he had filed a constitutional amendment to prevent a pardon from being granted to perpetrators of crimes committed against minors.

Orbán said on Facebook that he had submitted the amendment proposal on behalf of the government, adding that it was his personal belief that there must be no mercy for paedophiles.

He said a debate on the powers of the presidential pardon had arisen, adding that “what’s needed now is not to be lawyerly but to establish clarity with an unequivocal decision”.

He said he had five children and six grandchildren, adding that if anybody touched them, his first thought would be that “they must be cut in half, they must be cut into pieces”.

A large part of Hungarian society and many Fidesz supporters believe that the release of the man who helped pedophilia makes the President unworthy of her post. Orbán seems to be sticking by the president, and has not called on her to resign, even though the Hungarian government considers itself family-friendly and Christian.

President insists on surprising pardon

The office of the President of the Republic issued a statement saying that the constitutional amendment would beef up child protections, and Katalin Novák would “gladly sign” the legislation once MPs passed it. This reaction also shows that the President is not willing to apologise for her decision, nor to take responsibility for the consequences of such a decision: such a pardon sends the wrong message to paedophiles and the wrong message to exploited child victims.

As we wrote today, an opposition party wrote to the Pope over the presidential pardon, details HERE.

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