In 1978, during the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, Chen Yun was added to the Standing Committee, vice chairman of the Central Committee, and was also elected first secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. After that, Chen Yun did a lot of work in trying unjust, false and wrong cases during the ten-year catastrophe and redressing unjust, false and wrong cases, and promoted the process of rectifying chaos.
On 29 September, the 16th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress adopted a decision appointing Huang Huoqing, chief procurator of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, as director of the Special Procuratorate and Jiang Hua, president of the Supreme People's Court, as president of the special court, to make final judgments on the "two cases."
It is worth mentioning that Chen Yun was very perceptive to the trial of the "two cases," and he specifically pointed out at the work meeting of the special case group that there should be a difference between handling the "Gang of Four" and dealing with Huang Yongsheng and others: the main members of the "Gang of Four," such as Jiang Qing, Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, and others, have brought calamity to the country and the people, and have made serious mistakes. Huang Yongsheng, Qiu Huizuo, Wu Faxian, and Li Zuopeng, who were born and died during the revolutionary period, were one of the heroes of the creation of the new China.
During the ten-year catastrophe, Chen Yun was also persecuted by the "Gang of Four", but even so, Chen Yun did not agree to treat Jiang Qing, the first culprit of the "Gang of Four", as a criminal offense. In fact, before the trial of the "Gang of Four," the Central Committee held a special meeting of the Politburo, and during the 10-year catastrophe, many cadres were persecuted by Jiang Qing.
However, Chen Yunli disagreed with Jiang Qing's death sentence. Chen Yun believes that the nature of turmoil is an intra-party conflict, and those who make mistakes can be punished, but not killed. Some people raised objections, arguing that intra-party conflicts can also be sentenced to death, at which point Chen Yun once again showed his foresight, saying: "Intra-party conflicts cannot be killed, otherwise future generations will not be able to deal with it." ”
Chen Yun believes that the trial of the "Gang of Four" must withstand the test of future generations, and even if Jiang Qing makes a serious mistake, he cannot kill him. Finally, Chen Yun also said that if you must open the killing ring, then please write on the minutes of the meeting: "Chen Yun does not agree." After listening to Chen Yun's speech, the leaders attending the meeting were very enlightened, and facts have also proved that the handling of non-killing has achieved good results at home and abroad.
In addition, Chen Yun's proposal also protects many cadres implicated in the "two cases", and many of them have been exempted from prosecution, such as Chen Liyun, a member of the "Three Kingdoms and Four Parties". It was also at Chen Yun's suggestion that the entire trial list of the "two cases" was concentrated from more than 100 people to 10 main culprits.
Jiang Qing, who was in prison, was very emotional after receiving the notice of indictment, and she once cursed in prison, but the relevant personnel still informed Jiang Qing of relevant rights in accordance with the law, such as the right to have a lawyer to defend herself. After that, Jiang Qing successively proposed Shi Liang, Liu Dajian and Zhou Jianren as her lawyers, but for various reasons, no one was willing to defend her in the end, and Jiang Qing also tried to avoid the public trial, but her wishful thinking failed, and at the end of 1980, Jiang Qing was taken out of prison and transferred to the waiting room to await the trial of the law.
On January 25, 1981, after a trial, the Special Court sentenced Jiang Qing to death with a two-year reprieve. However, when Jiang Qing heard the death penalty, she immediately began to shout, seriously disturbing the order of the court, and later learned that she was suspended from death, Jiang Qing relented, but continued to disrupt the order of the court, and finally Jiang Qing was taken out of the courtroom.
Two years later, Jiang Qing's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and she served her sentence in prison until she was released on medical parole in 1984. Jiang Qing's medical parole was still in Qincheng Prison, the former "war criminals laundry", and in 1991, Jiang Qing ended her life at the age of 77.