Myanmar remits sentences of 1,316 prisoners

Yangon [Myanmar], October 18 : Myanmar's State Administration Council on Monday remitted sentences of 1,316 prisoners.
As many as 1,316 prisoners are remitted sentences on humanitarian grounds and cases were closed against 4,320 people who are still being prosecuted in various courts in the country, Xinhua reported citing an official order.
In his message to the public on Monday, Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing said that implementation is being done with the aim of bringing prosperity to the country and establishing a democratic federal union.
Aung Hlaing also stressed that discussions are being made as the requests are changed, regarding the visit of the ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar.
This comes a few days after Myanmar's military junta had said that it was 'extremely disappointed' over its leader Min Aung Hlaing's exclusion from the upcoming ASEAN summit.
The decision to exclude Hlaing from an upcoming October 26-28 summit was taken during an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) emergency meeting late on Friday, according to a statement from the current chair of the group Brunei, reported CNN.
Brunei said in the statement a non-political figure from Myanmar would be invited to the summit after no consensus was reached for a political representative to attend.
Brunei's Foreign Minister also said there had been "insufficient progress" on a roadmap to restore peace in Myanmar that the junta had agreed to with ASEAN in April, as well as "concerns" over the junta's commitment to establishing constructive dialogue among all concerned parties, reported CNN.
"Some ASEAN member states recommended that ASEAN give space to Myanmar to restore its internal affairs and return to normalcy," the statement said.
In response, Myanmar's military-controlled foreign ministry said it was "extremely disappointed and strongly objected" to being excluded from the summit.