A convicted neo-Nazi in Germany will serve time in a women’s prison after changing gender under a new self-identification law.
In July 2023, Sven Liebich was sentenced in Germany to 18 months in prison after being convicted of incitement to hatred, defamation and slander. Liebich, a member of the neo-Nazi group “Blood & Honour,” appealed the sentence at the regional court in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt—and lost. A year later, Liebich started identifying as a woman.
By late 2024, German official records listed Liebich’s gender as female, with the new name Marla-Svenja Liebich. The change was made possible under Germany’s new “self-determination law,” which allows citizens to change their legal gender without going to court. As a result, Liebich will serve the prison term in a women’s facility, a decision that has sparked controversy.
The sentence is set to begin soon. Dennis Cernota, Halle’s chief public prosecutor, told the BBC that Liebich will start serving at Chemnitz Women’s Prison, with authorities being able to later decide whether to transfer her elsewhere. Prison officials will assess whether she poses a security risk. "I will begin my prison sentence as scheduled," Liebich wrote on X. "On August 29, 2025, at 10pm, I will arrive at the Chemnitz correctional facility with my suitcases."
German media have questioned whether Liebich’s gender transition reflects a genuine identity or is an attempt to troll the system. "Whether the change is serious is doubtful," wrote Der Spiegel, which nevertheless referred to Liebich as a woman. The magazine noted her long record of far-right activism and previous anti-queer statements.
Liebich has taken legal action against media outlets she accuses of lying about her gender identity. According to the BBC, Germany’s Press Council rejected her complaint against Der Spiegel as unfounded. Der Spiegel suggested it was likely Liebich changed her civil status in a provocative way “ to provoke and embarrass the state.”
She also lost a lawsuit against journalist Julian Reichelt, who wrote on X in July: "Anyone who follows the reporting on neo-Nazi Sven Liebich can only come to one conclusion: The traffic-light coalition government has managed, by law, to force almost the entire German media landscape to tell untruths and make grotesquely false claims. Sven Liebich is not a woman."