A founding member of the prominent protest group Femen, Oksana Shachko, has died in Paris in an apparent suicide, fellow members say, mourning the loss of a woman they called "a heroine of our time."

Femen co-founder Anna Hutsol told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on July 24 that Shachko was dead, following reports that her body was found in her Paris apartment the previous day.

"As far as I know, she was concerned that everything is going badly in the world," Hutsol said of Shachko. She added that "unfortunately," she and Shachko had not been in touch much lately.

"RIP. The most fearless and vulnerable Oksana Shachko has left us," a post on the Femen website said. "We mourn together with her relatives and friends and [await] the official version from the police."