Pastor Gong Shengliang (龚圣亮) is the founder and leader of the South China Church, an evangelical house-church fellowship that claimed 50,000 members across several Chinese provinces including Hubei. In December 2001, he was convicted and sentenced to death under China's anti-cult legislation. Responding to international pressure, China commuted his sentence to life imprisonment for assault and rape charges. In 2006, his prison sentence was further reduced to 19 years. According to his relatives, Gong was tortured and beaten severely during his incarceration,