Marla-Svenja Liebich, a well-known right-wing German extremist. Photo / Getty Images
Marla-Svenja Liebich, a well-known right-wing German extremist. Photo / Getty Images
Germany’s Interior Minister has called for tighter rules on gender self-determination after a neo-Nazi, convicted of incitement to hatred and other crimes as a man, legally changed gender and is now set to serve an 18-month sentence in a women’s prison.
Marla-Svenja Liebich, formerly known as Sven Liebich, was sentencedin July 2023 to 18 months without parole for incitement to hatred, defamation and insult. At the time, Liebich was a man.
Last year, Liebich changed name and gender under Germany’s revised Self-Determination Act, just weeks after the law came into effect.
After a failed appeal, Liebich is set to begin the sentence at a women’s facility.
Senior government officials, including Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, have accused Liebich of abusing the Self-Determination Act, a German law that guarantees an individual’s right to change their gender marker.
“This is an example of the very simple abuse of the self-determination law,” Dobrindt told Stern magazine.
“We now need a debate about how to reinstate clear rules against the abuse of changes of gender ... The judiciary, the public, and politicians are being fooled here because the Self-Determination Act provides the opportunity for this.”
Liebich, an active member of Germany’s far-right extremist scene since the 1990s, was described by Saxony-Anhalt’s intelligence agency as a “right-wing extremist” with statewide and national activity and was once a leading figure in the banned neo-Nazi “Blood & Honor” network.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Liebich’s arm was tattooed with a yellow Star of David, bearing the word “unvaccinated” - equating the treatment of unvaccinated individuals to the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust.
Liebich’s sentence is set to begin on Saturday at a prison in the city of Chemnitz.
Liebich also has demanded kosher meals and rabbinical supervision in prison after claiming in online posts to now be a devout Jew.
Liebich’s previous appearance of short dark hair and greying stubble was replaced in recent court appearances by a floppy black hat, sunglasses, gold earrings and bright red lipstick beneath a grey handlebar moustache.
Family Affairs Minister Karin Prien told German tabloid Bild that Liebich’s case “clearly demonstrates that the Self-Determination Act, in its current form, contains weaknesses that could encourage targeted abuse”, adding that safeguarding gender self-determination remains “right and important”.
The right-wing extremist then known as Sven Liebich in Chemnitz. Photo / Getty Images
The law, introduced under then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left government, came into force in November.
It was intended to ease the process for trans, intersex and nonbinary people to change gender without psychiatric assessment.
Liebich has called a news conference outside the entrance of the Chemnitz correctional facility.
Whether Liebich will stay at the Chemnitz prison will be decided after arrival.
Benedikt Bernzen, a spokesperson for the Halle public prosecutor’s office, told regional broadcaster MDR that an individual admission interview will determine whether Liebich is transferred elsewhere.
This will examine “whether Ms Liebich’s detention in the prison there is compatible with other considerations that may play a role”, Bernzen said.
“The prison regulations, the security interests of the other incarcerated women, and Ms Liebich’s security interests all play a role.”
In 2022, Liebich disrupted the pro-LGBTQ+ Christopher Street Day parade in Halle, calling participants “parasites of society” and a year later spoke of “transfascism”.
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