"I made a mistake. I granted the pardon in April last year because I believed that this person did not abuse the children in his care. The decision was not justified and led to doubts surrounding the zero-tolerance policy for pedophilia," Hungarian President Katalin Novak, a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said when announcing her resignation on February 10.

The decision comes a week after local media reported on the Hungarian president’s pardon, sparking outrage. The opposition has called for Novak and former Justice Minister Judit Varga, a rising star in the ruling Fidesz party, to resign.

The pardoned man is a former deputy orphanage director who was sentenced to more than three years in prison for pressuring victims to withdraw their accusations against the orphanage director, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for abusing at least 10 children between 2004 and 2016.

The incident is a rare setback for Prime Minister Orban, who has campaigned for years to protect children from LGBTQ activists in schools, an issue that has put him at frequent odds with the European Commission.

Former minister Varga, who is expected to lead the Fidesz party's list of candidates for the European Parliament, also announced that he accepted responsibility for approving the amnesty and announced that he would leave politics.

Katalin Novak, 46, is Hungary's first female president and also the youngest person to hold the office in the country's history when she takes office in 2022.

The President of Hungary is elected by the Parliament for a five-year term. The position is largely ceremonial, but the President of Hungary has the power to appoint members of the government nominated by the Prime Minister, veto laws, or send laws to the Constitutional Court for review.

Vu Anh (According to Reuters )