Children can only be supervised by a person who certifies with an official moral certificate that he is not on the register of criminals due to a crime committed against a minor, is not subject to criminal proceedings, suspension from employment or forced medical treatment. About the details of the change and its consequences, Dr. Lawyer Melania Nagy, university assistant professor, spoke.

Several types of grace are known in Hungary. We distinguish between public grace and individual grace. The details of the presidential (individual) pardon procedure of the Republic can be found in the XC of 2017. It is regulated by law. In all cases, the minister submits the request for clemency to the President of the Republic, who decides without the obligation to provide reasons. The decision of the President of the Republic is effective from the date of the pardon decision, but the minister's countersignature was necessary for the decision to be valid, but this has now been abolished. Previously, the President of the Republic was not limited in which crimes he could grant pardons.

Based on the new regulation, the President of the Republic cannot exercise his individual pardon right against a convict who has committed a sexual crime against a person under the age of 18.

What does this mean in practice? Will there be a list of those who are registered as sex offenders and screen applications based on that?

Yes, a pedophile registry will be prepared in the future, where, in addition to persons convicted by Hungarian courts, the data of Hungarian citizens who have been convicted of a similar crime in another member state of the European Union or in the United Kingdom will be available.

Will the list of persons accused of sexual crimes against minors be used in other situations?

Yes, it will be usable. These people will be restricted from filling certain occupations. Among other things, the following were highlighted in relation to the camp:

children can only be supervised by a person who certifies with an official moral certificate that he is not on the register of criminals due to a crime committed against a minor, is not subject to criminal proceedings, suspension from employment or forced medical treatment.

Changes in the law related to this - for example, it will not be possible to release these sex offenders and these crimes will not be statute-barred - how important a change can they bring?

Many changes are expected in connection with the new regulation. Among other things, the application of actual life imprisonment becomes questionable. Hungary has one of the strictest Criminal Codes in the European Union, however, the new tightening may have the opposite effect.

Which means that the actual life sentence may even be abolished.

In addition, it is likely that the number of individual pardons will also decrease significantly, as a result of the events that have occurred in recent months.

The full interview can be read on Sunday!

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