San Francisco Frontiers - Czech court orders German neo-Nazi provocateur's extradition

Marla-Svenja Liebich -- who used to go by the name of Sven before controversially registering a new identity as a woman -- was detained under a European arrest warrant in western Czech Republic in early April and put in pre-trial custody.

Liebich, a high-profile figure in eastern Germany's right-wing extremist scene for decades, disappeared last August after failing to show up at a women's prison in Germany to serve a sentence for offences including incitement to racial hatred and slander.

"The court issued a verdict handing the requested person over to German authorities," Jakub Stverak, spokesman for the regional court in the western Czech city of Plzen, told AFP.

He said Liebich now had three days to appeal the verdict.

"If the appeal is not filed... (Liebich) will be handed over to Germany within 10 days after the verdict has taken effect," Stverak said.

The Plzen court had already dealt with the case in May but adjourned it until Monday for the judge to study Liebich's testimony.

In late 2024, Liebich registered as a woman, following a reform that made it easier for people to change their legal gender.

The move meant Liebich would have been sent to a women's prison, sparking a debate in Germany over abuses of the new law.

However, Liebich vanished without ever serving the 18-month sentence.

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 the German city of 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.

N.Wilson--SFF