Sven Liebich, a known neo-Nazi activist from Saxony-Anhalt, legally changed his gender last year and now can serve his jail sentence at a women’s prison.
In July 2023, Liebich was sentenced to a a year and six months jail without parole by the Halle District Court for incitement to hatred, defamation and insult, among other things.
While he lost his legal appeals, Liebich went on to change his gender, based on the self-determination act in relation to gender entry (SBGG), issued by the previous progressive German government and which came into force on November 1, 2024.
This act, in line with those of many other western countries, allows people to simply register a gender change at the civil registry office and update their ID.
Liebich’s gender-change was accepted by the government and became official. He became a she, under the name Marla-Svenja Liebich and grew a large moustache.
Liebich has said “she” would report anyone who “misgenders” her. In Germany, “misgendering” can be punished with fines of up to €10,000.
“I read along and will report EVERY disparagement of my faith and speculations about the intensity of my faith that offend me,” Liebich said on X on August 21.
Media and parts of the LGBT scene have accused Liebich of changing gender only to influence where her sentence was served.
Liebich also said she officially registered as a Jewish woman on her ID, and said she would file complaint against people defaming “my kosher diet and rabbinical guidance” because they were “trampling on my religion”.
“My religious practice is officially recognised by the State – otherwise, I wouldn’t even be allowed to wear my tichel [headscarf] in the photo of my valid ID. Anyone who ridicules or scornfully defames this is not only attacking me but also religious freedom.✊,” she wrote.
Germany in uproar: Sven Liebich, a far-right activist and convicted neo-Nazi, legally changed gender and name to Marla-Svenja Liebich under Germany’s Self-Determination Act, and in the middle of the trial demanded to be sent to a women’s prison pic.twitter.com/pYB0YzpPe7
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) August 20, 2025
On August 19, the public prosecutor’s office in Halle ordered that her sentence be served in the women’s wing of the Chemnitz correctional facility (JVA).
Benedikt Bernzen, spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office, said: “We have a legally prescribed examination standard, which deals with two points. On the one hand, this is the registered gender, in this case female and, on the other, the place of residence.”
Senior public prosecutor Dennis Cernota told the news outlet MDR that an “admission interview” would take place when Liebich’s sentence began at Chemnitz.
The authorities said they would examine whether accommodation for Liebich in the prison was compatible with other issues, including the security of both the female prisoners there and of Liebich.
The Saxon Ministry of Justice told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung that in certain cases medical or psychological assessments may still be required — for example, if there were suspicions that someone has declared a different gender solely to influence detention conditions.
In the 1990s, Liebich was active in the neo-Nazi Blood and Honour network in Saxony-Anhalt. As a male, he later set up a mail-order business for radical right-wing rock music.
The then-he later created an online shop selling all kinds of political messaging, although apparently not neo-Nazi in style but rather as an agent provocateur and political instigator.
Since 2014, Liebich had regularly organised demonstrations, many in the market square in Halle in Saxony-Anhalt. These often led to clashes with counter-demonstrators. He also sided with Russia in the war with Ukraine.
As recently as 2023, Liebich warned against “transfascism” and had previously insulted gay people as “parasites of society”.
Liebich is classified by Germany’s domestic intelligence services in Saxony as a “right-wing extremist”.
„Warum so ernst?“ 🤡
Ich nehme die Situation optimistisch: eine Auszeit, um mein Buch zu schreiben 📖🖋️, um in mich zu gehen und Kraft zu sammeln 🌸.
Vor allem aber nehme ich diese Zeit fröhlich 💃 – und das solltet ihr auch! 🌞✨ pic.twitter.com/67ehYLB4yF— Marla Svenja Liebich (@MarlaSvenjaL) August 20, 2025
