BRUSSELS – The European Union has called for the immediate release of a Vietnamese Facebook user sentenced to six years in prison for posts he made on the social media platform, saying the case marked a “worrying development.”

“The European Union expects the Vietnamese authorities to immediately release Mr Nguyen Ngoc Anh as well as all bloggers and human right defenders imprisoned for having peacefully expressed their views,” the bloc’s foreign service said in a statement.

“Nguyen Ngoc Anh’s right to peaceful freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Vietnamese Constitution.”

The Southeast Asian country’s government has labelled Anh’s posts “anti-state”.

Reuters