LMP spokeswoman Anna Süveg told a press conference on Monday that Novák had pardoned a man who used his position as the deputy director of a children’s home in Bicske, in central Hungary, to blackmail residents to withdraw their testimony against the “paedophile director”.

Süveg called the decision “despicable”, noting that Novak had also pardoned György Budaházy, “who had been convicted on terrorism charges”.

LMP is requesting access to the documentation leading to the decision, and calling on Novák to address the issue publicly. “Sentencing the perpetrators is something we owe the victims,” she said, adding that Novák was abusing the right to grant pardons, “a special and exclusive right of the country’s president”.

Meanwhile, the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) is launching an impeachment procedure against Novák over the issue.

Parliamentary group spokeswoman Olga Kálmán said on Monday that “someone pardoning an accessory to paedophilia … is not worthy to serve as Hungary’s president.”

The opposition Párbeszéd party proposed that Novák provide reasons for her decisions related to the pardon and sign a related document, which should be published in the official Hungarian Gazette.

The president’s decision to release the accomplice of a paedophile criminal was “shameful”, Bence Tordai, the party’s group leader, told an online press briefing. He said a part of Novák’s job was to represent the unity of the nation and its moral dimension, and she had abused her position and power, adding that she had lost the trust of the people and “can no longer be president of the republic of Hungary”.

Meanwhile, the opposition Jobbik-Conservatives on Sunday called on Novák to resign over her decision. Koloman Brenner, the party’s candidate for Budapest mayor, told a press conference that members of the Jobbik-Conservatives parliamentary group had called on Novák to resign and they invited all lawmakers to join the initiative.

Brenner also said that “Hungary should have a president elected directly by the people, who does not execute party orders … but indeed represents the unity of the nation, and grants presidential pardon only in cases when there is a serious moral or political reason”.

Deputy party leader Anita Kőrösi told the press conference that the residents of the Bicske children’s home had endured over several years that the director sexually molested them.

The deputy director, who was granted presidential pardon last April, “had assisted to this and wanted to persuade children to sign fake documents”, she added. Kőrösi demanded that Novák withdraw the presidential pardon and the deputy director should serve his sentence.

Video of Momentum demonstration available here

Meanwhile, Special Parlt Session Called by Opposition On Sweden's NATO Membership Lacks Quorum

In the absence of the governing parties, the special session of parliament initiated by the opposition, which was to have included a vote on Sweden’s NATO accession, lacked a quorum.

At Monday’s session proposed by the Socialists and backed by the Democratic Coalition (DK), Momentum, Jobbik, Párbeszéd and LMP, lawmakers were set to discuss two opposition proposals as well as Sweden’s NATO accession. Parliament debated the latter last March, but the ratification vote was not held.

Addressing the session, LMP lawmaker Máté Kanász-Nagy called it “sad” that none of the members of government were in attendance, adding it was “embarrassing” that the governing parties kept on blocking Sweden’s NATO accession without giving a reasonable explanation.

Bence Tordai, the group-leader of Párbeszéd, cited Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s pledge that parliament would ratify Sweden’s accession “on the first possible” occasion.

He said the government had not been guided “by Hungary’s national interest, but by something else”, adding that “we should not forget who it is in both the EU and NATO who represents the interests of an aggressor [who started] a war”.

Előd Novák, deputy head of Mi Hazánk, called for Sweden’s accession to be vetoed, arguing that its accession “would be another step towards a [third] world war and a provocation”. “Maintaining a neutral buffer zone between Russia and NATO would serve to preserve the fragile balance,” he added.

Koloman Brenner, group leader of Jobbik-Conservatives, said the “sad game” played by the government against Finland and Sweden’s NATO accession went against Hungary’s national interest.

“Viktor Orbán and Fidesz is becoming Putin’s puppet in the eyes of our NATO allies and the European public,” he said, calling the absence of Fidesz lawmakers at the session “shameful and a disgrace”.

Fidesz: Only President Can Exercise Right of Clemency

The right of clemency is one that only the president can exercise, “irrespective of whether or not we individually agree” with a given pardon, ruling Fidesz’s parliamentary group leader said on Facebook.

Regarding the opposition furore over a presidential pardon given to an official connected with a paedophile, Máté Kocsis said the left wing should be “silent” on the issue after it had refused to vote for Hungary’s child protection law in 2021, opposed the creation of a registry of paedophile offenders and wanted to make the 2022 referendum on the child protection law invalid.

“This is the same left wing that today would still let gender propaganda into schools and kindergartens and which, together with their Western allies, challenged the child protection law imposing stricter punishment for paedophilia at Brussels-based forums,” he said.

Kocsis said it was “interesting” that the left “wasn’t this vocal” when an activist linked to an opposition MP “was found to be in possession of 70,000 paedophilic images”, or when a Democratic Coalition politician and business weekly HVG “defended one paedophile offender after another”.

He said the left and the “dollar media” had also not been bothered by the opposition mayor of Budapest’s 8th district “campaigning together” with a “notorious paedophile” or by a Jobbik politician getting caught committing a crime related to child pornography.

“Hungarians see through … the left’s deceitful and two-faced stunts and constant lies,” Kocsis said.

“The left and the dollar media kept attacking the child protection and anti-paedophile measures, so it’s best for them to keep silent right now.”
 

Update:

PM Orban has submitted a constitutional amendment to make it impossible to pardon criminals for crimes against minors.

"There is no mercy for pedophile criminals, that is my personal conviction. There has been a debate about the power of presidential pardons, but there is no need to litigate here, but to create a clear situation with a clear, unambiguous decision. 

I also have five children and six grandchildren, if someone touches them, my first thought is to cut them in half or in pieces, so I have to create a clear situation. On behalf of the government, I have submitted a constitutional amendment to make it impossible to pardon criminals for crimes against minors. It is time to settle this matter."

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