For 30 years, Marla-Svenja Liebich, a bearded 55-year-old eastern German, was a full-throated neo-Nazi, with a string of convictions for incitement against minorities including queer people, dubbed “societal parasites”.After the latest incitement conviction in July 2023, however, Liebich used Germany’s self-determination Act to apply to shed her old identity and name – male, Sven – to become Marla-Svenja, female.Liebich appeared in court for sentencing wearing a straw hat, lipstick, earrings and a leopard print dress – and insisted on sitting out her 18-month term in a women’s prison. The court complied but, instead of presenting herself at prison last August, Liebich disappeared.The mystery over her location lasted until German police tracked her down last April. They tapped the phone of Liebich’s girlfriend, who led them to a small town in the neighbouring Czech Republic.After local police arrested Liebich under a European arrest warrant, she appealed her return, arguing she would not be safe in a German prisonThe court in Pilsen reviewed the conviction and Liebich’s colourful career – from leader of the extremist “Blood and Honour” group to leading Covid conspiracy theorist – and agreed to the extradition.On Wednesday, all legal appeals exhausted, Liebich was returned to Germany. Rather than a women’s prison, however, Liebich will serve the 18-month sentence in a male prison in Meißen, in the eastern state of Saxony.As in all custodial sentences, the decision on prison was taken by the state prison service. It was welcomed by Saxony’s minister for justice Constanze Geiert.“It’s good that the prison service worked quickly to establish the facts,” said Geiert, “and did not fall for an act”.The “act” she referred to was the transition from Sven to Marla-Svenja. While Liebich insists it is genuine, many in Germany see it as an attempt to subvert the country’s self-determination law.Since November 2024, German citizens can change their legal gender to male, female, diverse or none – with no other documentation or medical assessments required.Nearly 11,000 people filed applications in the first two months, with a further 22,000 last year.Now the state of Saxony-Anhalt has launched a court case to reverse Liebich’s revised identity and is lobbying, with other eastern German states, to overhaul the entire 2024 Act.“Nobody wants to send the self-determination Act back to the 1980s, and impose once more on trans persons burdensome and inhumane expert opinions,” said Beate Meißner, justice minister in the eastern state of Thuringia. “But it should be possible, just as with a sham marriage, to incorporate a testing mechanism if a state official notices abuse taking place.”