(July 22) - A Malaysian prince is suing his runaway bride over the teenager's claims that he tortured her and treated her as a sex slave.
Tengku Temenggong Tengku Mohammad Fakhry, 31, filed a defamation suit in Malaysia's high court against 17-year-old Manohara Odelia Pinot, the BBC News reported Tuesday.
Skip over this content
AFP / Getty Images
Manohara Odelia Pino waves to journalists as she comes home to Jakarta, Indonesia, on May 31. She says she fled her husband, a Malaysian prince, because he abused her.
The prince is also suing his estranged wife's mother, Daisy Fajarina. He is seeking $30 million in damages.
Pinot was 16 when she married the prince. He is a son of Sultan Ismail Petra Shah II, the leader of Malaysia's Kelantan state.
The young woman, a socialite renowned for her beauty, was once voted one of Indonesia's "100 Precious Women," according to Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper. Her mother is Indonesian and her biological father is American.
Pinot has claimed her husband treated her as a sex slave and subjected her to a "daily routine" of abuse. She said she was kept prisoner in her bedroom and fed tranquilizers when she complained.
She said she left her husband in October 2008, but claimed he kidnapped her in February. On a visit to Singapore in May with other members of the Kelantan royal family, she slipped away from her minders. She has since returned to Indonesia and filed for divorce.
The prince contends Pinot and her mother manufactured the story out of spite and a desire to make money. He has also petitioned for divorce.
The two women, who both live in Indonesia, have 21 days to respond to the suit. If they do not, the case could go forward without them.
