Afghanistan's embattled Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum has left for Turkey; in the middle of a criminal investigation, following allegations that he tortured and raped a political rival.
Dostum, a powerful ethnic Uzbek warlord with decades of experience in Afghanistan's turbulent politics, departed late Friday amid unresolved accusations that he had ordered his men to abduct, beat, and rape the rival last year.
Afghan officials have declined to say whether his departure was linked to the investigation.
Speculation is rife that he has sought temporary exile in Turkey in a bid to escape prosecution.
Bashir Ahmad Tahyanj, a spokesman for Dostum, said he would return after visiting Turkey for "medical checkups and to visit his family."
"General Dostum never leaves the country but remains alongside his people during difficult times," the spokesman said.
Dostum, 63, is accused of abducting rival Ahmad Ishchi last year during a game in the northern province of Jowzjan. He allegedly kept Ishchi hostage in his private compound for five days.
The country's attorney general launched an investigation into the allegations. Dostum evaded questioning by being holed up in his palace in central Kabul, guarded by his armed militiamen.
In 2008, the former warlord left for Turkey amid similar accusations that his men had abducted and sexually assaulted a political rival in the Afghan capital.
Dostum remained in exile until former President Hamid Karzai called him back.
Despite his human rights record, Dostum was invited to join the National Unity Government in 2014 in a bid by President Ashraf Ghani to attract the support of his Uzbek constituency.
The Ghani administration is under pressure to prosecute Dostum, who has survived all previous allegations of abuse.
Patricia Gossman, a human rights defender, has denounced violations by Dostum and other politicians across Afghanistan.
"It's a stunning example of what has become standard practice in Afghanistan, not just for Dostum but for anyone in a position of power: having promised to deliver justice the government has shown itself ultimately unwilling to do so," said Gossman, the Afghanistan researcher with Human Rights Watch.
Earlier this month, another former warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, returned to Kabul as part of a peace deal granting him immunity. Hekmatyar is the latest in a series of controversial figures that Kabul has sought to reintegrate by granting judicial immunity for past crimes.
Hekmatyar stands accused of leading militancy that allegedly killed thousands of people, mostly civilians, in Kabul, during the 1992-1996 civil war.
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