Nikos Michaloliakos

Golden Dawn legislator Christos Pappas, the second-in-command to the leader of the neofascist party Nikos Michaloliakos, is to be given conditional release on March 29, according to a decision by a council of appeals court judges issued on Friday.

The new Greek Parliament was sworn in on Thursday, with some of the House?s 300 deputies taking religious oaths and others civil ones.

The swearing-in ceremony began with a blessing from Archbishop Ieronymos, the head of the Church of Greece, and was followed by newly-elected MPs taking Greek Orthodox, Muslim and civil oaths.

Dozens of members of Greece?s neofascist Golden Dawn including the party?s leader Nikos Michaloliakos (photo) and all GD MPs ? current and former ? are to stand trial, possibly by mid-March, on a string of criminal charges including running a criminal organization, a committee of judges ruled on Wednesday.

Greek judges are sending 72 members of neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn including its leaders to trial for crimes including murder, a judicial source said on Wednesday.

?Seventy-two people, including party leader Nikos Michaloliakos and all of Golden Dawn's lawmakers in the previous parliament will be tried,? the source said.

Two public prosecutors on Tuesday proposed strict conditions to accompany the scheduled release on March 29 of Golden Dawn chief Nikos Michaloliakos (photo) and the party?s second-in-command, Christos Pappas, after their 18-month maximum detention period ends.

Both Golden Dawn officials are facing charges of organizing and leading a criminal organization.

 President has been taking advice from constitutional experts on his options

Greece?s President Karolos Papoulias appears determined that the new Parliament to emerge from the January 25 elections will choose his successor, even if a government is not formed.

An Athens prosecutor on Thursday advised that an appeal for the release of several detained Golden Dawn deputies, including party leader Nikos Michaloliakos, in view of the upcoming election, be rejected.

All political parties wishing to take part in the snap polls on January 25 will have to submit their details, including names and symbols, to the Supreme Court by January 9.

The court is expected to announce on January 14 which parties fulfill the criteria needed to take part in the general elections.

Seven lawmakers of the ultranationalist Golden Dawn party have been granted temporary leave from pre-trial custody to attend three votes in Parliament for a new president of the republic, on Wednesday and December 23 and 29.

Evidence regarding the criminal activity of neofascist Golden Dawn, which is contained in a 700-page report submitted to a council of judges by prosecutor Isidoros Doyiakos, exposes a Nazi-inspired mystical personality cult centered around the figure of party leader Nikos Michaloliakos, Kathimerini understands.