Michalis Arvanitis

A misdemeanors court in Patra on Thursday cleared the local mayor, Costas Peletidis, of charges of dereliction of duty that were lodged against him by Michalis Arvanitis, a former candidate for neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, in 2015 after Peletidis denied Arvanitis the right to use a municipal venue to stage a pre-election campaign.

A court in Patra on Thursday started hearing a lawsuit filed by a candidate for the ultranationalist Golden Dawn party in 2015 against the western port city's mayor.

Golden Dawn MP Michalis Arvanitis was released by magistrates on Friday on the condition that he does not engage in any hate speech.

He is the first of the far-right party’s lawmakers to be granted this form of conditional release.

Golden Dawn deputy Michalis Arvanitis was released from custody on Friday after facing the two magistrates investigating the party for alleged criminal activities.

The 72-year-old lawmaker for the ultranationalist party was ordered not to leave the country and banned from participating in party events outside Parliament.

 Candidate said to have addressed Cretan party rally where MP did Nazi salute

The Greek Police has launched an internal investigation following reports that a police officer on the island of Crete is to stand as a candidate on the ticket of neofascist Golden Dawn in local authority elections in May, reports said Monday.