Editorial: Parmas may be good prosecutor general

Estonia's current period of having no prosecutor general, but instead only a substitute prosecutor general, seems to be drawing to a close after Minister of Justice Raivo Aeg (Isamaa) nominated Judge Andres Parmas for the position, which is good, as the law currently does not technically allow for the appointment of an acting prosecutor general — a legislative weakness that needs to be addressed, but not before a new prosecutor general is sworn in, daily Eesti Päevaleht (EPL) writes in its Monday editorial (link in Estonian).

Parmas is a suitable candidate, with long-term experience in the court system, international experience to boot, experience lecturing on penal law in addition to currently pursuing a doctorate at the University of Tartu. While the fact that he was chosen from the court system rather than internally, from the Prosecutor's Office, can be considered a positive factor by some and a negative by others, in this case, the positive outweighs the negative.

It also looks unlikely that Parmas would end up a so-called political prosecutor general; while he was a member of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL) from 2006-2013, he never stood out as a party soldier as such, and he left the party upon his appointment as judge. He also seems not to have sucked up to the coalition Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE), the party to block previous prosecutor general Lavly Perling's appointment for a second term, in order to improve his chances.

In times like these, EPL concludes, it's refreshing to see that it's still possible to find candidates for high-ranking positions that seem universally liked, or at least not immediately targeted by any one part of the political spectrum.

'Disco Elysium' likely earned back dev costs already

Role-playing game (RPG) "Disco Elysium," developed and published by Estonian studio ZA/UM, has likely already earned enough of a profit since its release on Oct. 15 to at least break even on development costs, online news portal geenius.ee reports (link in Estonian).

According to the studio's annual report, ZA/UM's losses as of this spring totaled €617,246, but according to the portal's calculations, the game, which retails at a base price of €39.99, has earned at least €4 million, meaning that even after the video game distribution platform Steam takes its 30 percent cut, ZA/UM has already earned at least €2.8 million.

The Estonian-produced videogame has earned widespread critical acclaim, and with the holiday season ahead, it is likely to see sales numbers increase further.

"Disco Elysium," which is currently only available for PC via Steam and GOG.com, is expected to be released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One next year.

Viljandi Folk ticket sales set new record

Tickets to the 2020 Viljandi Folk Music Festival went up for sale on Sunday, and while there are youth, senior, family, day and festival passes still left, the cheapest festival passes sold out in a matter of minutes, regional paper Sakala writes (link in Estonian). 

The total number of festival passes available in the two cheapest categories — which cost €65 and €75, respectively — being increased by 400 due to significant public demand did not stop them from being sold out by Sunday night.

Popular ticket categories were the youth pass, which is meant for students between the ages of 13-26, the senior pass, which was introduced last year and is meant for those 65 and up, as well as special passes for large families, a new category introduced this year in cooperation with the Estonian Association of Large Families.

139 festival passes were also bought by foreigners on the first day, nearly one fifth of which were youth passes.

6th graders donate to cat shelter for holidays

This holiday season, Türi Basic School's 6B class opted to skip presents to one another in favor of collecting donations for a cat shelter in town, regional paper Järva Teataja writes (link in Estonian).

The students visited the shelter run by the nonprofit MTÜ Soe Pesa on Advent Sunday, where volunteers showed them around the shelter and told them about how it is run.

The children presented the volunteers with their collected donations and had the chance to play with and even name some of the cats.

Estonian photographer makes CNN's top sports photos

U.S. news channel CNN published a gallery of 2019's best sports photos, and featured among them is a photo taken by Estonian sports photographer Joosep Martinson, online news portal Delfi Sport writes (link in Estonian).  

The featured photo was taken of Dutch speedskater Lara van Ruijven during the European Short Track Championships in January.

Click here to see CNN's full gallery.

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