Page "Jiang Qing" Paragraph 51

Portions of the 20, 000-word indictment were printed in China's press before the trial started ; they accused the defendants of a host of heinous crimes that took place during the Cultural Revolution.

The charges specify that 727, 420 Chinese were " persecuted " during that period, and that 34, 274 died, though the often vague indictment did not specify exactly how.

Among the chief victims: onetime Chief of State Liu Shaoqi, whose widow Wang Guangmei, herself imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution for 12 years, attended the trial as an observer.