Fugitive trans neo-Nazi who modified gender ‘to be despatched to ladies’s jail’ is arrested after eight months on the run
A transgender German neo-Nazi who was accused of changing gender to serve a jail sentence at a women’s prison has been arrested in the Czech Republic after eight months on the run.
Marla-Svenja Liebich disappeared in August after failing to show up at a women’s prison to serve an 18-month sentence for offences including incitement to racial hatred and slander.
Liebich used to go by the name of Sven and was a high-profile figure in eastern Germany’s right-wing extremist scene for decades.
In late 2024, Liebich registered a new identity as a woman, taking advantage of Germany‘s Self-Determination Act, which allows people to change their gender and first name by filing a declaration at a registry office, rather than by a judicial ruling.
Since then, Liebich has appeared in public wearing women’s clothing – and a moustache.
The move meant that Liebich would have been sent to a women’s prison, sparking a debate in Germany over abuses of the new law.
On Thursday, Dennis Cernota, the chief prosecutor in Halle, the jurisdiction responsible for the case, told AFP Liebich had been arrested in the Czech Republic.
Cernota added that Liebich had been held under a European arrest warrant and that an extradition process would now be started.
Marla-Svenja Liebich – a convicted transgender Neo-Nazi – has been arrested in the Czech Republic after months on the run
Marla-Svenja Liebich, previously known as Sven Liebich, registered a new identity as a woman in 2024, taking advantage of Germany’s Self-Determination Act, which allows people to change their gender and first name by filing a declaration at a registry office
Pictured: The Right-wing extremist Sven Liebich seen speaking during a protest against Merkel’s visit to Chemnitz, Deutschland in 2018 before changing gender
Liebich’s gender transition was widely seen as intended to mock Germany’s Self-Determination Act, introduced in November 2024 under the then centre-left government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
In 2022, Liebich disrupted an LGBTQ pride parade in Halle, calling the participants ‘parasites on society’, according to activists.
The current government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, led by the conservative CDU/CSU alliance, said after coming to office last year that it would review the Self-Determination Act.
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.
Despite Liebich’s gender change, German media have questioned whether she was serious.
