Central Case Examination Group

rdf:langString Central Case Examination Group

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rdf:langString "The Case Examination Group was a horrible, harmful institution... it had unlimited powers and it answered to no one. The group could choose to purge whomever it wanted, and had the power to throw people in prison; it even dictated how long the prison term was... the Group must be buried forever... it had strong autocratic tendencies and operated on the whims of the individual. So long as the Group exists, we will never become a democratic society based on rule of law. If not handled well, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection may be at risk of becoming a bigger version of the CCEG."

rdf:langString —Wang Li, as quoted in the memoirs of Deng Liqun

rdf:langString The Central Case Examination Group (Chinese: 中央专案组; CCEG) was a special organization established in the People's Republic of China in 1966 under the aegis of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party to persecute those accused of "anti-party activities". It was, in essence, an organization dedicated to political persecution of senior party leaders as well as ordinary functionaries. Initially conceptualized as a beachhead by Chairman Mao Zedong's most radical supporters to 'gather dirt' on opponents of the Cultural Revolution, it later began taking up cases against all manner of perceived political opponents irrespective of their ideological allegiance. Many of its early leaders, such as Jiang Qing, later themselves became the subject of persecution by the Group. The Group was compared by Cultural Revolution-era propagandist Wang Li to the Soviet Cheka, but he noted that the CCEG had even broader powers. Its leading members included nearly all of the members of the Cultural Revolution Group (CRG) as well as Premier Zhou Enlai and the chief of Mao's security detail Wang Dongxing. The CCEG worked closely with the CRG during its investigations.