Pressure is mounting on Hungarian President Katalin Novak to resign after it was revealed that she pardoned a man convicted of complicity in the sexual abuse of children.
Opposition parties in Hungary have announced that Novak, a close associate of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, is no longer fit to be president since she pardoned a convict last year - the former deputy director of a state children's home.
In 2018, he was sentenced to more than three years in prison for helping to cover up the fact that the director of that institution sexually abused at least ten children from 2004 to 2016, for which he was later sentenced to eight years in prison.
Novak, who pardoned him, like dozens of others on the occasion of Pope Francis' visit to Hungary in April 2023, denied that she had acted improperly.
Her office did not respond to The Associated Press' request for comment.
The largest opposition party in Hungary, the Democratic Coalition, has begun ethical proceedings against the president in the Parliament.
A protest against Novak is scheduled for Friday in front of the Presidential Palace in Budapest.
Former Minister of Justice Judit Varga was also criticized for agreeing to the pardon. Varga is expected to lead the list of candidates of Hungary's ruling Fidesz party in June's European Parliament elections.
The controversy also broke out today because Prime Minister Orban proposed changing the Constitution to prevent those convicted of crimes against children from receiving presidential pardons.
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