Full Name Anna Hutsol Role Activist Name Anna Hutsol | Years active 2008–present Occupation Activist Organizations founded Femen | |
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People also search for Alexandra Shevchenko, Inna Shevchenko, Alain Margot | ||
Anna Hutsol (Anna Vasylivna Hutsol; Ukrainian: Ганна Гуцол; born 16 October 1984) is a Ukrainian activist and founder of FEMEN.
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Biography
Hutsol was born in Russia but moved to Ukraine with her parents in 1991. Hutsol is an economist and a former assistant to singer Tina Karol.
Hutsol founded FEMEN in 2008 after she became attuned to the sad stories of Ukrainian women duped by false promises from abroad: "I set up FEMEN because I realised that there was a lack of women activists in our society; Ukraine is male-oriented and women take a passive role." According to Hutsol the skills she acquired during her time with Tina Karol have helped FEMEN's "public relations". FEMEN's main choice of action is topless demonstrations. The group started protesting against sex tourism and broadened their agenda to women's rights and civil rights in Ukraine and around the world.
Hutsol wanted to seek representation for FEMEN in the Verkhovna Rada in January 2011; but FEMEN did not take part in the October 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election.
According to a border service official because "Hutsol is on the list of people barred from entering Russia" she was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation on 16 November 2012 at Pulkovo Airport in Saint Petersburg (Russia). Hutsol was deported back to (her point of departure) Paris (France) on the earliest flight available.
Late August 2013 Shevchenko and fellow FEMEN-members claimed to have fled out of Ukraine ("Fearing for their lives and freedom"). Hutsol request for asylum in Switzerland late 2013, but the authorities rejected it on 27 March 2014.