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Hungary's president resigns over child sexual abuse scandal
Outrage was sparked by revelations Hungary’s president had pardoned a man convicted in a child sexual abuse cause.
Hungary’s president has resigned amid outrage over her pardoning of a man convicted in a child sexual abuse case.
President Katalin Novak faced days of growing pressure to resign because of her controversial decision to pardon a man who was convicted of covering up crimes committed by a sexual predator at a children’s home.
The 46-year-old announced in a televised message on Saturday that she would step down from the presidency, an office she has held since 2022.
“I issued a pardon that caused bewilderment and unrest for many people,” Novák said on Saturday. “I made a mistake.”
Novak – the first female president in Hungary’s history – had unleashed a political scandal unprecedented for the country’s long-serving nationalist government, Fidesz.
Her resignation is a rare episode of turmoil for the right-wing party, which under the leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been accused of dismantling democratic institutions and rigging the media in its favour.
Novak, a key ally of Orbán, has been an outspoken advocate of traditional family values and the protection of children.
“We know for sure that no serious decision is made around the Fidesz House without Viktor Orbán’s knowledge and consent,” wrote Hungarian politician Donáth Anna on Facebook.
“Viktor Orbán must stand up and explain what happened. Judit Varga signed the pardon on behalf of the prime minister and his government. This is Orbán’s system, so his responsibility cannot be denied.”
Scandal could bring down other politicians
Hungary’s main opposition parties have called for a presidential election.
“In order to prevent this from happening again…. we are taking the initiative so that the people, not Viktor Orbán and the Parliament, decide on the person of the new president of the republic, as it works perfectly in most European countries,” wrote Klára Dobrev of the left-wing Democratic Coalition on Facebook.
There were protests in the Hungarian capital Budapest on Friday night, demanding Novak’s resignation.
The man who Novak pardoned was sentenced to more than three years in prison in 2018 for pressuring victims to retract their claims of sexual abuse in a state-run children’s home by its director, who was sentenced to eight years for abusing at least 10 children between 2004 and 2016.
It was well known that Novak had pardoned some two dozen people ahead of Pope Francis’ visit to Hungary in April 2023.
However, it was only recently disclosed that one of those pardoned was the deputy director of the children’s home who covered for his boss while he preyed on its residents.
Novak was the youngest person to ever hold the office of president in Hungary.
Also implicated in the pardon was Judit Varga, another key Fidesz figure, who endorsed the pardon as Hungary’s then Justice Minister.
Varga was expected to lead the list of European Parliament candidates from Fidesz when elections are held this summer. But in a Facebook post on Saturday, she said she would take political responsibility for endorsing the pardon and “retire from public life”.
ADVERTISEMENTVarge also resigned from her seat as a member of parliament.
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Spearfisherman killed by suspected 15-foot shark after third fatal attack in less than a month
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A fisherman was killed late Saturday morning after an attack by a suspected nearly 15-foot shark off the coast of Western Australia.
The unidentified 35-year-old was spearfishing near Michaelmas Island, a protected sand cay on the Great Barrier Reef not far from the city of Albany.
The island is around 240 miles south of Perth, the state’s capital.
His was the third fatal shark attack in the country in less than a month.
SHARK ATTACK DEATHS SURGE ABOVE DECADE AVERAGE IN 2025
A fisherman was killed late Saturday morning after a suspected shark attack. (Mark Baker/AP)
The man was brought by boat to shore, but paramedics weren’t able to revive him.
On May 24, 39-year-old Michael Jensz was killed after suffering head injuries while spearfishing along the Great Barrier Reef off the country’s northeast coast.
A bull shark is suspected in his death.
On May 16, 38-year-old Steve Mattabonni was killed by a white shark at Rottnest Island, a popular resort in Western Australia. He was also spearfishing.
In January, a 12-year-old also died a week after he was attacked by a shark in Sydney Harbor.
A bull shark is suspected in a man’s death in Western Australia.
Australia usually averages around three shark deaths per year.
“We do see an increase in larger sharks this time of the year, particularly chasing the sardine and the salmon along the coast, which is quite normal,” commercial fisherman Gregory Sharp told the Australian Broadcasting Company Saturday.
He added that sharks also tend to attack in areas “where there’s a lot of seals, and the island area in King George Sound is renowned for seals.”
A fisherman was attacked by a suspected nearly 15-foot shark off the coast of Western Australia. (iStock)
Michaelmas Island is located in King George Sound.
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Western Australia Premier Roger Cook said in a Facebook post Saturday that he was deeply saddened to hear of this morning’s fatal shark attack in Albany.
This is a tragedy and my thoughts are with the victim’s family and friends, as well as the first responders.”
Published on
On June 6, 1944, during World War II, nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy, France, on what is known as ‘D-Day’, and they launched ‘Operation Overlord’ to liberate German-occupied Western Europe.
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Over 4,400 Allied troops were killed on that single day, and more than half of them were Americans. The exact number of German casualties on D-Day is not known, but it is estimated between 4,000 and 9,000 killed, wounded or missing.
This year commemorates the 82nd anniversary of the Normandy beach landings, with only a handful of war veterans still alive to tell the story. And six of those last veterans have made the journey to France to commemorate the landings at the British Normandy Memorial.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and the Pentagon’s second-in-command, Elbridge Colby, take part in the international ceremony at Langrune-sur-Mer on Saturday to honour those veterans.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was also present at the ceremony and laid tributes at the American memorial honouring war veterans who took part in the invasion that helped change the course of the war.
Hegseth was joined at the ceremony by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, as well as other military personnel.
Referring to the servicemen who sacrificed their lives, Hegseth stated they “carried the hopes and prayers of a free world.”
“They crossed an ocean to fight for their country on a continent that they’d never seen, to save a people they did not know..()..Alongside the brave forces of Great Britain, Canada, France, Norway, Poland, and our other capable and steadfast allies, the United States military spearheaded a great crusade to shatter the Nazi war machine and liberate the continent,” Hegseth said.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey also paid his respects as he laid a wreath at the foot of the British Normandy Memorial, which lists 22,540 British names on its Roll of Honour.
As the largest seaborne military operation in history, D-Day launched with tens of thousands of troops landing simultaneously across 5 separate beaches in Normandy.
Following more than a year of intense strategic planning, the invasion was delayed by 24 hours due to severe storms, missing its original 5 June target date, which commanders chose to capitalise on rare optimal weather, low tides, and a full moon.
In military terminology, the “D” simply stands for “day”, marking the designated start date of a major operation.
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