German neo-Nazi in trans row arrested in Czech Republic

Marla-Svenja Liebich, a well-known right-wing extremist, sits in a courtroom at the regional court. The reason for this is an appeal case for dangerous bodily harm. Photo: Sebastian Willnow/dpa (Photo by Sebastian Willnow/picture alliance via Getty Images)

BERLIN - A German neo-Nazi provocateur who was accused of abusing the country’s gender recognition laws to serve a jail sentence in a women’s prison has been arrested in the Czech Republic, prosecutors said Thursday.

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, exploiting a reform to make it easier for people to change their legal gender.

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.

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.