You're reading: Co-founder of Femen protest group found dead in Paris

Ukrainian artist and one of three co-founders of the international all-female protest group Femen Oksana Shachko was found dead on July 23 in her Paris apartment, Shachko’s partners in Femen told BBC Ukraine.

According to them, Shachko died by suicide.

Shachko, 31, co-founded Femen protest group in Kyiv in 2008 together with Oleksandra Shevchenko and Anna Gutsol. During their protests, activists exposed their breasts to attract public’s attention to the subject of the protest, which often was political. The group quickly gained fame.

After several attacks on the participants of the movement in Ukraine, several co-founders left Ukraine in 2013 and moved to Europe. Shevchenko and Shachko settled in Paris, where they got political asylum. In Paris, Shachko was engaged in painting and had exhibitions.

Oksana Shachko, an activist of the Ukrainian women’s movement Femen, waves Ukrainian national flag braving the cold in front of the Russia’s natural gas monopoly giant Gazprom headquarters in central Moscow, on Feb. 13, 2012, protesting against Russia using gas supply to put political pressure on Ukraine. (AFP)

Shevchenko told BBC Ukraine that Shachko was last seen alive on July 20. She also said that a note was found reading “You’re all fake.”