Former minister of justice and Isamaa politician Lea Danilson-Järg said it was important to determine whether the current minister of justice, Laanet, had interfered in the investigation of criminal cases.

Danilson-Järg said that, unlike Laanet, she had never asked the prosecutor's office for information about ongoing criminal proceedings in the manner now described in the media. "Neither the law nor the general principles of a democratic state allow this; the minister of justice, from his or hers political level, can certainly not interfere in specific investigations and the independence of the prosecution," she said.

She said that the Isamaa faction had decided to meet with Kalle Laanet and Andres Parmas to determine whether such interference had actually taken place. "Right now it looks very bad. This kind of political interference in the investigation of specific cases should not take place," she said.

Danilson-Järg also said that if the minister has accusations against the prosecutor general, they cannot be related to the investigation of specific cases, as long as everything has been done lawfully.

"The minister of justice must have concrete charges against the prosecutor and reasons for wanting him to go. Today, it is not at all clear that there are any real allegations against Parmas, so this appears to be a case of political interference," she said.

Mart Helme (EKRE), who was criticized by Laanet as minister of the interior in 2019 for wanting to investigate the Danske and Swedbank cases at the prosecutor's office, said that EKRE's criticism of the prosecutor's office was fundamentally different from that of Laanet.

"The central concern for EKRE at that time was that the prosecutor's office had become overly politicized, pursuing certain cases and not others. Consider the photo controversy involving politician Marko Mihkelson (Reform) and the Slava Ukraini case. The prosecution's actions are uneven. In certain cases, there was a lot of media attention and press conferences were called, such as the Porto Franco case [involving Center Party members], which has now died down. The latter was an overblown controversy whose real aim was to bring down our government [the government formed by the parties now in opposition: Center Party, EKRE and Isamaa]," Helme said.

"In the case of the conflict between Laanet and Parmas, we see that the government has instrumentalized Laanet to take control of the Prosecutor General's Office, which is a clear violation of the principle of separation of powers," Helme said.

Helme emphasized that neither Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) nor anyone else in the ruling coalition has raised the question of what Laanet is doing and how the prosecutor's office could be made to function again.

The credibility of the Estonian legal system is under fire, Lavli Perling, the former chief prosecutor and current leader of Parempoolsed, told ERR.

Perling said that the minister of justice has not been able to provide the political leadership necessary to maintain an objective and transparent judiciary, but on the other hand, the prosecutor general must also assert himself and not allow political considerations to influence the proceedings.

"In a free country, anybody can ask what they want to ask, but the prosecutor has to set the boundaries of what has to be answered," she said.

"The serious question is whether Laanet and Parmas understand that this is now a situation where the state's interests must take precedence over their own personal interests, their own hurts, insults, disappointments," Perling said.

Perling added that if there are very clear and objective reasons, the government can also dismiss the prosecutor general, but it must be detached from the political will.

Andres Parmas, the country's chief prosecutor, told the media last week that Justice Minister Laanet had pressured him to resign and had systematically discredited the prosecutor's office with his actions. Laanet has initiated an internal investigation of Parmas, the results of which will determine whether there are grounds for disciplinary action. Laanet also admitted to ERR that he had indeed recommended that Parmas consider resigning.

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