A spokesperson for the prosecutor's office said: "The ethics council of the prosecutor's office will meet on Monday to assess Lavly Perling - who has not officially joined any party - becoming a supporting member of any one party."

The office also stated that a prosecutor is prohibited from joining any political party.

Perling recently joined the "Right wingers" ("Parempoolsed") faction of Isamaa, which notwithstanding its name has differed from the party mainstream on issues such as a referendum on the definition of marriage as between one man and one women, which some of its members oppose. Perling is a supporting member, rather than a fully paid-up Isamaa party member, it is reported.

Perling herself said on Wednesday that: "Getting involved in politics is in no way a popular decision nowadays, but at some point one has simply had enough and can no longer remain an onlooker while Estonia's success is being gambled away through populist roaring. The more experts in their field engage in politics, the faster we can get our state back in order."

The Right wingers have also sought to distance themselves from the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE), which Isamaa has been in office with since late April 2019.

Lavly Perling was not appointed to a second term in October last year following political pressure from the coalition Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE). She remained acting prosecutor general through to early 2020 when Andres Parmas ascended to the role.

On October 9 this year, justice minister Raivo Aeg (Isamaa) retroactively suspended Perling's duties in the prosecutor's office for the period from Octber 1 to September 20 of the following year, during her work at the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), where she is participating in a working group on the reform of the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, BNS reports.

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