Parmas is facing a political furor over alleged shortcomings of his running of the prosecutor's office, but in any case had applied to the court chair post, with a year left of his term as prosecutor general to run.

However, the court administration supervisory board (Kohtute haldamise nõukoda) decided Friday to nominate judge Kristjan Siigur as candidate for the position, rather than Parmas, investigative weekly Eesti Ekspress reports.

The candidacy of Siigur, 43 (pictured), had been chosen by a justice ministry competitive selection committee, Eesti Ekspress reports, which comprised three high-level judges and two ministry officials, which looked at three potential candidates.

Siigur is currently a judge at the first-tier Tallinn Administrative Court, which is significant in that the current legislation stipulates that a circuit court chair can only be appointed from the second-tier bench of judges (ie. from either of the two circuit courts).

Prior to becoming prosecutor general in 2020, Andres Parmas, 46, was a judge with Tallinn District Court's panel, meaning he met the criteria in this aspect.

He was reportedly also considered to be the favorite with the public, or at least that portion of the public which concerns itself with judicial appointments.

Siigur's appointment needs to be approved by Justice Minister Kalle Laanet (Reform). The latter has recently been critical of Parmas and the office he heads up, with specific points including an inadvertent irregularity in the processing of a high profile corruption case by a prosecutor.

Parmas had also applied late last year to become an International Criminal Court judge.

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