In its partial lifting of a gagging order, the court in the town of Rishon LeZion said Eli Feldstein and three others were under investigation.

“It’s a million-pound hush fund and a gagging order. That's why they're doing it, they’re keeping everybody quiet.”

However, after researching the identity of the two men in the photographs at the German National Archives in Berlin, K was last month able to lift the gagging order by proving that both of the men had in fact joined the Nazi party, in 1941 and 1943 respectively.

They succeeded in July in obtaining a gagging order against K after the regional court in Innsbruck ruled that their interest in protecting their reputation took precedence over the guest’s right to freedom of expression.

The Staunch Prize been criticised by some crime writers as a "gagging order" that sweeps violence against women under the carpet.