German neo-Nazi to serve sentence in men's prison despite legal gender change

A German neo-Nazi figure who had been expected to be sent to a women's prison after a legal gender change will instead serve a sentence in a men's correctional facility, local authorities said on Thursday.

Marla-Svenja Liebich, who previously used the name Sven before registering a new identity as a woman, has been accused of exploiting German laws on gender self-identification. Liebich was extradited from the Czech Republic on Wednesday to a women's prison in Chemnitz, in eastern Germany, after fleeing Germany following a conviction on charges including incitement to racial hatred and slander.

A spokesman for the justice ministry in Saxony said the prison's management ultimately decided Liebich would serve the sentence in a men's facility. Saxony justice minister Constanze Geiert welcomed the decision, saying the correctional facility had acted quickly and that the move prioritized the safety of women in the Chemnitz prison system. Geiert, a member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative CDU party, also called for swift reforms.

Liebich, 55, has been a high-profile figure in eastern Germany's right-wing extremist scene for decades. Liebich disappeared last August after failing to report to a women's prison in Germany to serve a one-and-a-half-year sentence. Liebich was arrested in western Czech Republic in early April under a European warrant, and Czech courts rejected attempts to block extradition.

In late 2024, Liebich registered as a woman after a reform made it easier for people in Germany to change their legal gender. The move was widely seen as intended to mock Germany's Self-Determination Act, introduced in November 2024, and sparked debate over possible abuse of the law. Merz's government announced a review of the law after taking office last year but has not enacted changes so far.