Also file under party members and useful idiots being eaten by the very regime they helped bring to power.
CCP’s show trial of Jiang Qing after Mao’s death.
Jiang was Mao’s widow and an active player in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. There was no doubt that she committed numerous crimes and was mostly hated. But trial was purely politically motivated and the decision was made even before the trial began. The goal was to blame everything on her and her accomplices called the Gang of Four so that Mao and his legacy could be preserved, without which the CCP would lose its legitimacy. Jiang was given a suspended death sentence. She later committed suicide in prison.
The show trial was the first since the CCP took over China in 1949. In the Mao era “justice” was carried out in the “People’s Court” by mobs.
Some compare Jiang’s trial to Trump’s, with important differences. At least it was very clear what Jiang was charged with: insurrection, counterrevolution…; Jiang was allowed to speak; and the trial was televised for the entire nation to watch.
It’s terrifying to see a worse version of history repeating!!