Judit Varga, Minister of Justice will launch an investigation to find out who is ultimately responsible for the events in Győr, following the shocking events that happened over the weekend. A father, recently released from prison, having been incarcerated for attacking his sleeping wife with a hammer, murdered two of his children and then hanged himself. Varga received an open letter from author Éva Péterfy-Novák, who requested an answer to “how many more women and children have to die in order to take domestic violence seriously” and give an explanation to the events of the weekend.
Varga answered in a Facebook post to Éva Péterfy-Novák that she condemned “that the horrific death of two children is being used for low-class political purposes. As a mother and Minister of Justice, like all well-meaning people, I was struck by the tragic news of the children’s murder in Győr.” Péterfy-Novák sent an open letter to the minister on Monday, asking for an explanation and who is responsible for the tragedy, asking whether “three ‘familicides’ within half a year are sufficient reasons to open your eyes at least a bit to reassess your condescending, disdainful communication about it.”
Péterfy-Novák then pointed out that while in November the large majority of MEPs had supported the ratification of the Istanbul Convention by all member states as soon as possible to stop violence against women, ruling Fidesz abstained from the vote.
Varga answered that “the relevant Hungarian legislation complies with the requirements of the Istanbul Convention, in particular of Article 31. Of course, this is not enough if such a tragedy can occur.”
The Minister of Justice then added that she will initiate a general government investigation in order to find out who is responsible and whether any public body or public employee failed to comply with their role in the case.
As we have reported, the man, who was just released from jail, brutally killed two of his children before taking his own life in Győr. In May 2016, the father was sentenced to five years in a high-security prison for attacking his sleeping wife with a hammer in their Szombathely home -so brutally that the handle broke during the beating.
He moved to Győr a few months ago after being released on good behavior. His children came to see him for the first visitation since he had gone to jail. He, however, due to unknown reasons, killed his 13-year-old stepdaughter and 10-year-old son, then hanged himself. The man didn’t hurt the third child, a six-year old girl who then called for help. Since then, it has been reported that the girl was watching a cartoon while the father brutally murdered the two other children.
In the featured photo: Judit Varga. Photo by Tibor Illyés/MTI