Hundreds of Armenians Saturday protested Hungary's decision to send an Azerbaijani soldier who killed an Armenian back to his hometown.

Armenian protesters burned the Hungarian flag and threw eggs, tomatoes and coins outside the Hungarian consulate in the capital of Yerevan, saying Hungary's decision to repatriate the Azerbaijani murderer was driven by its desire to benefit from Baku's energy resources.

Ramil Safarov was sentenced to life by a Budapest court in 2006 after he murdered Armenian soldier Gurgen Margarian at a military academy in 2004 when both were attending NATO-organized English-language courses in Hungary.

Safarov was sent back to Azerbaijan on Friday and was immediately pardoned and freed after his arrival. Armenia responded to the release by cutting off its diplomatic ties with Hungary on Friday.

In its response, Hungary said Saturday that it acted in line with international law to allow Safarov to go home to serve the remainder of his life sentence there.

Armenia is still in conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that lies within Azerbaijan but has been controlled by Armenian troops and ethnic forces since a separatist war broke out in 1988.

Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994 but the conflict has never been truly settled despite mediation by the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe co-chaired by France, Russia and the United States.