German Police Find Body Of Missing Russian Artist

Mikhalchuk had provoked outrage with an exhibition in Moscow in 2003 that critics said ridiculed the Orthodox Church.

German police said on Friday they had found the body of a woman believed to be Anna Mikhalchuk, a Russian artist who disappeared from her Berlin home three weeks ago.

"So far, there are no hints that Ms Mikhalchuk was the victim of a crime. She apparently took her own life," Berlin police said.

Police said they found the woman's body in a sluice gate in central Berlin on Thursday. Initial investigations showed it was most probably the 52-year-old artist.

"Her disappearance seems to have been linked to her private life. We have no evidence that points to any potential political motivation," police said.

Mikhalchuk had provoked outrage with an exhibition in Moscow in 2003 that critics said ridiculed the Orthodox Church.

She was charged in Russia with fomenting inter-religious discord for her 2003 exhibition entitled "Caution! Religion", which used paintings and sculptures that some said ridiculed the Church.

She was later acquitted but the exhibition was ruled "openly insulting and blasphemous". Mikhalchuk and her husband, a philosopher, criticised the Russian government after the trial and had been living in Berlin since November.