Co-founder of feminist protest group Femen found dead in apartment

A co-founder of the international feminist group Femen was found dead Monday in her Paris apartment, according to The Guardian.

The newspaper reported that Femen activists said Oksana Shachko, a 31-year-old Ukrainian, was found in her apartment with a suicide note lying next to her. 

{mosads}“It is with great regret and deep pain that I must confirm the death of Oksana,” Inna Shevchenko, one of Femen’s leaders, told The Guardian.

Another Femen founder, Anna Gutsol, reportedly said the activist group was awaiting “the official version” of her death from police.

The Guardian notes that Shachko was a founding member of Femen, a feminist activist group launched in Ukraine in 2008.

Shachko had been exiled in France since 2013 and had left the group before her death to pursue work as an artist, according to The Guardian. 

Femen operates under the slogan of “I came, I stripped, I won,” and has garnered attention around the world for its protests against sexism, which often involved topless demonstrations. 

The group also protested authoritarianism and racism and targeted Russian President Vladimir Putin. Because of their protests, Femen said Shachko was among three members “kidnapped” in 2011 after it mocked the Belarusian president in a protest, according to The Guardian. 

The newspaper also noted that the group says Shachko was kidnapped another time by unknown assailants while Putin made a visit to Ukraine. 

The Guardian notes that the group has struggled in recent years due to a combination of internal divisions and legal proceedings against its members.