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Armenian parliament breaks ties with Hungary

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Sept. 6, 2012, 8:11 p.m. | Russia and former Soviet Union — by Associated Press

A Hungarian flag is put on the ground during a protest at the Hungarian Consulate in Yerevan, Armenia, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012. Armenia broke off diplomatic ties with Hungary after an Azerbaijani military officer sentenced to life in prison here for killing an Armenian officer was sent back to his homeland on Friday and, despite assurances, immediately pardoned and freed. The coins on the flag symbolizes that Hungarian were paid to release the Azeri officer.
© AP

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YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenia's Parliament has terminated all ties with Hungary's legislators to protest the country's decision to repatriate an Azerbaijani military officer who murdered an Armenian soldier in 2004.

The officer had been sentenced to life for killing the Armenian while both were attending a NATO course in Hungary. After being freed, the officer was pardoned upon returning home Friday. Hours later, Armenia broke diplomatic relations with Hungary.

Armenia's Parliament voted 96-1 on Wednesday night to end ties with Hungary's Parliament, saying in a statement that Hungarian authorities "are also responsible" for the pardoning.

Tensions are strong between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan controlled by Armenian troops and ethnic Armenian forces since 1994. International negotiators said the pardoning harms peace efforts there.

Meanwhile, an Armenian security expert said that Armenia's government and media websites were under cyber-attacks Thursday that originated from thousands of infected computers located outside the country.

Ruben Muradian said the DDoS, or Denial of Service, attacks came from some 80,000 computers located "in Asia."

Armenian political analyst Samwel Martirosian claimed that Azeri authorities "undoubtedly" were behind the attacks conducted by hackers hired in Turkey, Pakistan, India and Vietnam.

DDoS attacks occur when a website is overwhelmed by malicious messages carried out by thousands of followers, usually with easily downloadable software.

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