Hungarian Prime Minister publishes documents on the pedophilia scandal

Novák is said to have pushed for the amnesty decision to be processed quickly because Pope Francis’ visit was imminent. The pardons should be issued on this occasion. The Vatican promptly declared that it was not involved in the pardon affair.

Justice Minister Varga initially rejected a pardon

As a result of the scandal, Novák resigned from her posts in February 2024. She pardoned Endre K. in April 2023, who was accused of supporting one pedophile children’s home director had been convicted. Also the former Minister of Justice Judit Varga Withdrew from politics because of the scandal, but she was also held responsible for the case. According to the documents that have now been published, Varga, as minister, initially rejected the pardon request, but then countersigned the controversial amnesty decision after the president signed it.

The decision was made bypassing the usual official channels due to time pressure, Magyar said, describing it as “unprecedented” that the President’s decision and the countersignature from the Ministry of Justice took place on one day.

President should publish further documents

According to Magyar, amnesty matters are not public. This could now be deviated from because Endre K. had written a book about the case. The head of government also called for president Tamás Sulyok to immediately publish the relevant documents in his office. If he doesn’t comply, he would bear the “political, human and moral responsibility,” Magyar stated. The new prime minister has been pressuring the head of state to resign from his office for weeks because he is “a puppet” of the former head of government Orbán.

The publication of the documents on the government website kormany.hu was justified by the fact that Hungarian society had the right to know how the amnesty decision was made that granted a pardon to a person involved in the cover-up of a pedophilia crime.

The former ruling party Fidesz dismissed Magyar’s press conference as “another Facebook event” that contained nothing new. The Orbán government’s “outrage” over the scandal at the time proves that there was agreement about the resignation of Novák and Varga, the broadcast says.

The former Justice Minister Varga is the Magyar’s ex-wife and mother of his three sons. The couple divorced in 2023. After the former justice minister was forced to withdraw from politics due to the pardon scandal – she was actually supposed to be Fidesz’s top candidate in the 2024 EU elections – her ex-husband Magyar went to the general public with a sensational interview critical of the government. The scandal marked the beginning of Magyar’s meteoric political career, which ultimately culminated two years later, in the April 12 parliamentary elections, in a triumphant election victory for his TISZA party and his subsequent inauguration as prime minister.