Malaysia ex-King’s divorce with Russian wife confirmed

After denials and uncertainties, it is now confirmed that the Sultan of Kelantan Sultan Muhammad V, 50, is divorcing his wife, former Russian beauty pageant contestant Rihana Oksana, 26.

The divorce comes after a year of marriage and has been confirmed by the Sultan’s lawyer Koh Tien Hua, through the Singapore-based Eversheds Harry Elias LLP law firm.

The New Straits Times newspaper NST says it managed to obtain a copy of the letter from the law firm.

According to the local paper, the letter says, “Please be informed that HRH (His Royal Highness) has irrevocably divorced Ms Rihana Oksana Gorbatenko in June 22, 2019, by three Talaqs in accordance with Syariah laws and the Kelantan Syariah Court has issued a Divorce Certificate dated July 1, 2019, in accordance with the Islamic Family Law Enactment 2002.

It also requested the privacy of the Sultan be respected. NST was the first to report the divorce on July 17.

The Kelantan Palace had earlier released a statement, which indirectly responds to Rihana’s post on Instagram mentioning herself as “Queen of Kelantan” and her newly born baby boy as the future ‘King of Kelantan”.

“Nobody can be called Permaisuri Kelantan, Raja Perempuan Kelantan, Sultanah Kelantan or the ‘Queen of Kelantan’ without an official announcement from the Kelantan palace,” the palace statement says.

Rihana called her son “Tengku Mahkota Kelantan” as well as the future “Raja Kelantan” in one of her Instagram posts.

The Comptroller of the Royal Household of Kelantan Datuk Nik Mohd Shafriman Nik Hassan in a statement said only official announcement from the Kelantan Palace could be taken into account as accurate and acceptable news by the people and media practitioners.

Hence, the palace calls on the people and media practitioners not to be easily influenced by the dissemination of unverified information on social media.

The news of the Sultan of Kelantan’s, (then Agong/King of Malaysia) wedding to the Russian bride made headlines in Malaysia with a video of the wedding ceremony going viral.

The news of his wedding was also published by the New Straits Times a year ago.

The divorce process was in accordance with the Islamic divorce system, with three mentions of ‘divorce’ or ‘talaqs’ from the Sultan which then makes the divorce definite and irrevocable. It is the most severe form of divorce in Islam.

It stipulates that the couple cannot remarry unless the woman marries another man, and this man, of his own free will, divorces her or dies. -/TISG