According to Lindtman, the photos were taken in 2000 when he was 18 years old.
– In the picture we are naked with the hats pulled down over our faces. The plastic weapons we hold in our hands were used in a film project at the time. I can see myself in the background with a plastic gun in my hand, says Antti Lindtman to EPN.
The images began to spread more widely on Tuesday and originate from a site belonging to a film group that Lindtman was part of during his high school years. The weapons and hoods seen in the pictures must be film props. The S candidate says that already 15 years ago he asked for them to be removed from the site. Lindtman believes that the friends “went out of control with the posing”.
– I was not a Nazi sympathizer then and I am not now. On the contrary, I think that even then I was not popular among Nazis given my views, says Lindtman Iltalehti newspaper.
SDP, the Social Democrats in Finland, will elect a new chairman at their congress in early September. Antti Lindtman has been highlighted as a favorite to take over from Sanna Marin.