A convicted right-wing extremist in Germany took advantage of the country’s lax laws on self-identification to serve out his 18-month sentence in a women’s prison. 

Marla-Svenja Liebich, previously known as Sven Liebich, was convicted in July 2023 while still identifying as a man, but last year he claimed to be a woman just weeks after Germany enacted a new Self-Determination Act, which allows individuals greater ease with which to register a new gender identity.

Liebich, who has been an active member of far-right extremist groups since the 1990s and a significant figure in the banned neo-Nazi “Blood & Honor” network, will arrive at the Chemnitz woman’s prison facility in the state of Saxony on Friday to begin serving his sentence. He also requested kosher meals and rabbinical supervision in prison after posting that he is now a devout Jew.

Government officials in Germany have accused Liebich –– who showed up at a recent hearing in a floppy hat, sunglasses, gold earrings, and sporting red lipstick poking out from underneath a gray handlebar mustache –– of taking advantage of a law intended to ease the process for transgender people to legally change their gender identities without a psychiatric evaluation.

“This is an example of the very simple abuse of the self-determination law,” Germany’s interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, told Stern magazine over the weekend. “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.”

Before taking a liking to women’s clothing, Liebich would often drape himself in Nazi-style attire while attending far-right extremist rallies, and operated an extremist blog named “Halle Leaks.” He also operated a business specializing in selling extremist merchandise until it was shuttered in 2023 after charges were handed down.

During the Covid pandemic, Liebich had gotten a tattoo of a yellow Star of David on his arm, along with the word “unvaccinated,” equating the treatment of unvaccinated people as persecution akin to what the Jewish people endured during the Holocaust, according to the Washington Post.

Liebich may not be able to carry out his sentence at the Chemnitz facility upon arrival. An admission interview with prison officials will determine if his is transferred to another facility.

“[This will examine] whether Ms. Liebich’s detention in the prison there is compatible with other considerations that may play a role,” the Halle public prosecutor’s office spokesman, Benedikt Bernzen, said to local broadcaster MDR.

“The prison regulations, the security interests of the other incarcerated women, and Ms. Liebich’s security interests all play a role.”