According to police sources involved in the investigation, “the photographs depict mid-level members of Golden Dawn holding weapons and were found on the hard-drives of computers belonging to two of the party’s MPs and two party members from Pireaus who are accused of the murder of [anti-fascist rapper] Pavlos Fissas, confirming the paramilitary structure of the organisation.” The materials had been seized as part of the ongoing investigation of the group to determine whether it constitutes a criminal organisation.

It is understood that one of the computers examined belonged to Giorgos Patelis, a leader of the Nikaia branch of Golden Dawn (a district near Pireaus where Fissas was stabbed) who is currently imprisoned pending his trial over his involvement in Fissas’s murder. Patelis is pictured holding military assault weapons. In another photograph from 2010, Patelis’s girlfriend is seen brandishing a handgun.

Of particular significance are photographs taken during a ‘camping trip’ organised by the Nikaia branch of Golden Dawn near the Neda river in the western Peloponnese. Golden Dawn members are pictured holding assault rifles and in other photos a small arsenal can be seen in a tent. These clearly imply that the trip involved military style training exercises and was not, as MPs currently under investigation have maintained, ‘open events’ purely for ‘sports and recreation’.

Nazi salutes accompanied by smiles are also a common feature of many of the photographs some of which include children.