A German Neo-Nazi who identifies as transgender has been arrested in the Czech Republic following an eight-month long manhunt. Sven Liebich, who changed his legal sex and name to Marla-Svenja Liebich, is facing an 18-month prison sentence on charges of incitement to hatred. Due to his legal status as a “female,” it is believed that Liebich will be placed in a women’s prison for the duration of his sentence upon his extradition to Germany.
Shortly after being detained by Czech authorities, Liebich took to social media to confirm his arrest and to drum up support for himself using the hashtag “Free Marla.”
In July of 2023, Liebich – then still known as Sven Liebich – was sentenced by the Halle District Court to a total of eighteen months’ imprisonment without probation for incitement to hatred, defamation, and insult. The sentence followed years of repeated legal violations; although he had previously avoided prison, the court had imposed alternative penalties such as fines and suspended sentences instead.
He appealed the prison sentence without success, and, during the appeal process, began to identify as transgender.
The knowledge of his newfound gender identity quickly came to the attention of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the federal State Saxony-Anhalt. At the time, the Office confirmed to BILD that they had been informed of his legal gender and name changes in December of 2024, having observed Liebich for years because of his involvement in extremist groups.
Despite widespread controversy over the Liebich’s newfound transgender status, his “gender identity” was respected during the judicial process, with the courts beginning to refer to him using feminine pronouns and his newly-chosen name “Marla.”
The BBC calls a male neo-Nazi ‘she’, because their absolutist belief in gender identity ideology means any man – rapist, voyeur, terrorist, murderer or paedophile – must be described as a woman the moment he says he’s one. https://t.co/NfTKo5PkSJ
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 21, 2025
Liebich was summoned for incarceration on August 29, 2025, but he failed to show up to the women’s correctional facility in Chemnitz as ordered by the Halle public prosecutor’s office. Prosecutors subsequently issued an arrest warrant, and authorities placed him on a nationwide wanted list. After an extensive manhunt, he was ultimately arrested in the Czech Republic earlier this week.
Since beginning to identify as a “woman,” Liebich appears to have taken advantage of Germany’s gender self-identification law, which came into effect in November of 2024 and imposes harsh penalties for “discrimination.”
This legislation, also known as the Self-Determination Act, significantly relaxed the requirements for changing an individual’s legal sex marker or name, removing a previous prerequisite of psychological assessments or judicial approval. The Act also imposes heavy fines on those who are found guilty of failing to treat someone as their self-declared gender, including “misgendering” them or using their non-preferred name.
In 2025, Liebich began seeking damages for “discrimination” from people who correctly identified him as a biological male. One of his targets, Josefine Barbaric, is the chairwoman of Nein, lass das! e.V. (No, don’t do that!), an association dedicated to protecting children from sexual violence.
After hearing about Liebich’s gender change, Barbaric took to Instagram to address the implications of the Self-Determination Act, expressing concern that violent men now have the ability to request housing in women’s prisons.
Barbaric has now received a letter from Liebich’s lawyers demanding that she remove her Instagram post and cease using male pronouns for him. Liebich demanded €15,000 in compensation from Barbaric, along with covering the costs of his legal representation.
Barbaric launched a GoFundMe to help fund her legal defense, and has raised just under 1,800 EUR of a 5,000 EUR goal.
A transgender neo-Nazi in Germany is suing a child safeguarding advocate for €15,000 after she "misgendered" him on Instagram.
— REDUXX (@reduxx) January 24, 2025
Sven Liebich claims Josefine Barbaric damaged his reputation by "inaccurately" describing him as a man.https://t.co/wgTieBVtbH
Germany’s radical self-identification law makes it difficult to prevent males, even those convicted of serious crimes, from being moved into women’s prisons.
Prior to the law coming into effect, renowned defense attorney Udo Vetter warned NiUS that only very well-founded exceptions could be made to prevent the transfers after a male declared himself to be a “female.” The burden of proof to refuse such a transfer lies with the state and can only be ensured by court-appointed experts in cases involving very serious crimes.
A recent report by Die Welt revealed that a series of trans-identified male prisoners, incarcerated across Germany, have repeatedly sexually assaulted and harassed female inmates and prison staff.
GERMANY: A new report has revealed that multiple trans-identified males have sexually assaulted female inmates while housed in women's prisons across the country.
— REDUXX (@reduxx) January 12, 2025
German justice officials had previously denied any incidents had taken place.https://t.co/LezLNtVFI8
In Vechta, a women’s prison in Lower Saxony, three sexual assaults were reported between 2023 and 2024 by the same trans-identified male offender. Although the trans-identified man was not named, it is known that he was convicted for possession of images of child sexual abuse.
While the survey provided some insights into the implications of housing trans-identified men with women, comprehensive data is impossible to obtain. This is because so-called “trans- and non-binary identifying inmates” are only recorded as such if they request special provisions due to their gender identity.
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