The lawmaker, Olga Kálmán, said the pardon had expunged the criminal record of the children’s home’s former deputy director and allowed him to work among children again.

“This pardon means that from now on, he has no criminal record and has not been barred from practicing his vocation. From the moment of his pardon, he can go back to working in an orphanage,” Kálmán told the AP.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, one of the sex abuse survivors, Mert Pop, wrote in a comment that Novák’s decision “deprives victims of due justice,” and that “the obscurity surrounding the pardoned offender provokes deep concern among those who have suffered, and in society at large.”

  • li10@lemmy.ml
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    5 months ago

    denied that she acted improperly and rejected calls for a formal explanation of her decision.

    wtf 😂

    How can you pardon a child rapist and then just decline to give a proper reason…

    • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      Ask former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin considering he pardoned a guy who continually raped a 9 year old. I guess he did give the excuse that her hymen was still intact. Unsurprisingly he went to a religious school.

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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      5 months ago

      Technically, he helped cover it up. The other person went away longer and presumably did the touching. It also doesn’t say the severity of the acts, so could be rape but also could be other bad stuff.

      But yeah, pardoning someone convicted of anything related to abusing kids is not such a great look.

  • nkat2112@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Pressure is mounting on Hungary’s head of state to resign after it was revealed that she issued a presidential pardon to a man convicted as an accomplice in a child sexual abuse case.

    Hungary’s opposition parties say that President Katalin Novák, Hungary’s one-time minister for families and a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, is no longer fit to hold office after she pardoned the former deputy director of a state-run children’s home last year.

    The man was sentenced to more than three years in prison in 2018 for helping to cover up the sexual abuse committed by the institution’s director, who himself was sentenced to eight years for his abuse of at least 10 children between 2004 and 2016.

    Novák, who issued the pardon along with around two dozen others on the occasion of Pope Francis’ April 2023 visit to Hungary, has denied that she acted improperly and rejected calls for a formal explanation of her decision.

    It’s all about projection, hypocrisy, narcissism from any of these parties of “family values” and “law and order.”

    And then to blatantly lie:

    “Under my presidency, there has not been and will not be pardons for pedophiles, as it was in this case,” she said during a news conference on Tuesday.

    Novák’s office did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Novák, who issued the pardon along with around two dozen others on the occasion of Pope Francis’ April 2023 visit to Hungary, has denied that she acted improperly and rejected calls for a formal explanation of her decision.

    On Thursday, a Democratic Coalition lawmaker delivered a letter to Catholic Church representatives in Hungary to pass to Pope Francis, saying that Novák had “served sin” by granting the pardon on the occasion of the pontiff’s visit.

    In a Facebook post on Tuesday, one of the sex abuse survivors, Mert Pop, wrote in a comment that Novák’s decision “deprives victims of due justice,” and that “the obscurity surrounding the pardoned offender provokes deep concern among those who have suffered, and in society at large.”

    “Confronted with the gravity of the crimes committed, the decision to pardon is unexpected and inexplicable, causing deep pain and disappointment to those affected, further complicating their lives,” Pop wrote.

    As controversy rose on Thursday, Orbán said in a video on Facebook that he had proposed an amendment to Hungary’s constitution that would prevent those convicted of crimes against children from receiving presidential pardons.

    Varga is expected to lead the list of European Parliament candidates from Hungary’s governing Fidesz party when elections are held this summer.


    The original article contains 561 words, the summary contains 208 words. Saved 63%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • Gabu@lemmy.ml
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    5 months ago

    One of the main reasons why I’ve never moved to Hungary, despite having the right to be a citizen, is Orban and his party of rightwing clowns. Every day would feel like shit knowing these are the people in power.