A district council in Germany has launched what is believed to be the country's first legal action to overturn a gender self-identification registration.
Officials in Saalekreis, located near the city of Halle, have petitioned a local court to reclassify the neo-Nazi Sven Liebich, 55, as male.
The regional broadcaster MDR reported that authorities are seeking to reverse changes Liebich made to his official records under Germany's gender self-identification law.
The council argues that Liebich, who adopted the name "Marla-Svenja", has been treating the legislation with contempt after using it to secure placement in a women's prison.
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Liebich gained notoriety across Germany last year when it emerged he had registered himself as female specifically to serve an 18-month prison term for hate crimes in a women's facility.
The 55-year-old attended court hearings wearing a leopard-print dress, a wide-brimmed hat and red lipstick applied beneath his moustache.
After participating in the legal proceedings, he absconded and remains at large.
His provocations have continued while evading authorities, with Liebich claiming to have applied for asylum in Russia.
Marla Svenja Liebich had already changed gender from male to female in 2024 while awaiting sentencing
|GETTY/LIVE REPORT LEIPZIG
He has since attempted to change his registered name to "Anne Frank" and alter his gender classification to "miscellaneous".
Overturning Liebich's gender registration presents significant legal obstacles for the Saalekreis authorities.
The Halle district court, which has yet to signal how it might rule, is required to allow Liebich to respond to the challenge, despite his current whereabouts being unknown.
The gender self-identification legislation contains provisions that make questioning an applicant's sincerity extremely difficult.
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Sven Liebich was sentenced in July 2023 for several offences including slander and incitement to hatred | GETTYWhile registry offices can reject applications in instances of "obvious abuse", they must demonstrate "objective and specific" proof that an individual is cynically gaming the system.
A recent ruling in Düsseldorf saw police permitted to deny promotion to an officer who had changed his gender to female shortly before applying, apparently to boost his chances of advancement.
The criminal defence lawyer and legal scholar Udo Vetter has argued on his blog that the council's legal position is "legally untenable" and that a favourable ruling would fundamentally transform how gender self-identification operates in Germany.
Vetter contended that legislators deliberately designed the law to prevent registry offices from blocking applicants based on perceived insincerity and Liebich's previous attacks on transgender rights movements cannot serve as evidence of deception.
"Should the Halle district court approve the application from the Saalekreis, it would not just create Germany's first case of (self-ID) reversal," Vetter wrote. "It would, above all, send out a signal that the self-ID law actually is subject to a material check, against the explicit will of the people who made the law."
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