"Changed Gender to 'Female' Before Imprisonment, but Neo-Nazi Ultimately Sent to Male Prison"

Changed Gender Right Before Imprisonment After Fleeing and Extradition

Concerns Raised Over Potential Abuse of the Self-Determination Act

A German neo-Nazi figure notorious for anti-LGBTQ remarks legally changed gender to female before being sentenced to prison, but was ultimately incarcerated in a male prison.

According to the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel and other sources, the Ministry of Justice of Saxony recently confirmed that far-right activist Marlà Svenja Liebig (age 55), who was extradited from the Czech Republic, was imprisoned on July 15 (local time) at Zeithain Prison, which houses male inmates.

Far-right activist Marlà Svenja Liebig from Germany. He changed his gender from male to female before imprisonment but was eventually incarcerated in a male prison. Screenshot from social networking service (SNS)

Liebig was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison for hate speech, defamation, and insults—in particular, shouting “parasites of society” at participants in an LGBTQ pride event in 2023. Facing incarceration, Liebig fled to the Czech Republic in August last year, but was extradited back to Germany on July 14.

Immediately after extradition, Liebig was temporarily held at Chemnitz Women’s Prison, on the grounds that Liebig’s legal gender was female. However, after assessing the safety of other female inmates and the overall management of the facility, the prison authorities determined that incarceration there was not feasible, and Liebig was ultimately transferred to a male prison.

Constanze Geierth, Minister of Justice of Saxony, said, “It is fortunate that correctional authorities sorted out the situation quickly and avoided unnecessary controversy.”

Liebig changed legal gender to female and also changed name to Marlà Svenja Liebig by taking advantage of the Self-Determination Act, which took effect in November last year. The Act allows people to change legal gender simply by reporting to a registry office, without the need for court approval or a psychiatric evaluation, streamlining the procedure. It was introduced in response to criticism that pre-existing gender change procedures excessively infringed upon the human rights of sexual minorities.

However, as Liebig—who routinely made public statements condemning sexual minorities—chose to change gender to female, criticism erupted that this was either a mockery of sexual minorities or an attempt to exploit loopholes in the law.

Despite being legally declared female, when German authorities notified Liebig to serve the sentence at a women’s prison, Liebig refused and fled to the Czech Republic. While in the Czech Republic, Liebig was held at Plzeň Prison, which mainly houses male inmates, and later argued that being held in a male prison after extradition to Germany would pose a threat to safety and life.

Following this incident, there have been continued calls in Germany to amend the Self-Determination Act to prevent abuse and exploitation. The states of Saxony, Thuringia, and Saxony-Anhalt officially requested the federal government to amend the law to introduce separate review procedures in cases of obvious abuse, such as the Liebig case.

According to the German federal government, from the enactment of the Self-Determination Act until March this year, a total of 28,364 people in Germany legally changed their gender.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.