A German neo-Nazi will be allowed to serve a prison sentence in a women’s jail after she used a new government policy to change her gender.
Marla-Svenja Liebich, previously known as Sven Liebich, will serve her 18-month sentence at Chemnitz women’s prison in Saxony.
In July 2023, the far-right extremist was sentenced for a string of offences, which included extreme right incitement to hatred, defamation, and insult.
At the time, she identified as male, which was her assigned gender at birth.
But at the end of 2024, Liebich had her gender entry in official records changed from male to female and also changed her first name in accordance with Germany’s Self-Determination Act.
The Act allows people to change their gender and first name through a declaration at a registry office, instead of a judicial ruling.
Liebich now appears in public wearing women’s clothing – and a moustache.
Despite Liebich’s gender change, German media have questioned whether she was serious.
She has since taken legal action against local media outlets for what she believes are false representations of her gender identity.
A complaint about German news outlet Der Spiegel to the Press Council was rejected as unfounded.
But earlier this year, Liebich had explained she had changed her gender and requested a sentence in a female prison to avoid ‘discrimination’ from male inmates, The Telegraph reports.
Liebich is considered by German domestic intelligence services as a ‘Right-wing extremist’.
She has been photographed wearing a Nazi-style armband with the slogan ‘Sicherheits-Abteilung’, or SA, which was used by the Nazis’ stormtrooper division.
In January, German officials said the country’s penal system still considered Liebich to be a male prisoner in legal terms, and that his status as female was based only in civil law.
