“The ugly past of the Finnish Socialist leaders»the German newspaper headlines its article Bildwhich publishes photos of the newly elected leader of the Finnish Social Democrats, Andi Lindman, which depict him naked with five other men.

particularly the German newspaper’s photo, which the report says was taken 23 years ago, shows five naked men whose faces cannot be seen wearing Santa hats, one of them holding a gun and two others giving Nazi salutes.

Bild reports that one of the men is Lindmann, who admitted in July that he is in the photo. According to his statement, he was 18 years old at the time of the photograph. Because this and other images are currently circulating on social media and the Finnish press, Lindmann was forced to take a stand.

In Iltalehti newspaper, the new head of the Finnish SPD said: “These photos shouldn’t have been published, especially since we are scantily clad.” The photos were uploaded to a private website and years ago he asked the website administrator to remove the images.

According to Lindman, the pictures were taken at a Christmas party organized by his film crew: “The photos were taken as a thank you to those who helped us make a short film.”

Referring to the Nazi salute, the social democrat stated that “I was not a Nazi supporter then and I am not today. Even then I could not have supported neo-Nazis because of my views.”

In the SDP, Lindmann succeeds former prime minister Sanna Marin, who also resigned as party president on Friday.