COVID-19 lockdowns not stopping case against China Horizons director
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REXBURG — The lockdown in China due to coronavirus is not stopping the criminal case against a director of a former Rexburg-based English-teaching program.
In September, local police in China’s Jiangsu Province arrested Alyssa Petersen, the director of China Horizons. The local provincial government said Petersen and her boss, Jacob Harlan – the owner and founder of the company — were illegally moving people across borders. In an update to a GoFundMe Page Tuesday, Petersen’s family said the case reached “the prosecution phase,” as the detention facility remains on lockdown due to COVID-19.
The prosecution phase the GoFundMe page refers to is likely the one and a half months a Chinese prosecutor has to determine if he will send a case to trial. According to Canada’s travel page on China’s legal process, a prosecutor can refuse the case and send it back to the investigating agency up to two times, meaning it can take over 13 months from arrests to a criminal trial.
The government in China, the center of the outbreak of the global pandemic, implemented the lockdowns in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus. Petersen’s family said in February the lockdown at the detention center means no fresh produce, no mail or in-person visits from lawyers or the United States consulate.
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Petersen reportedly has been able to have some communication over the phone with U.S. consulate officials, and her attorney, who said she is doing “OK” as of two weeks ago. She had not contracted the virus as of that point, according to the GoFundMe post.
With the lack of communication, little is know about Petersen’s case, but family members said on GoFundMe that they remain hopeful they will learn more soon.
“We know everyone is going through a tough time now, we are truly grateful for those who continue to pray for and think of her,” the family wrote.
Little has been known about Harlan’s condition; however, his wife, Kathrine Harlan, wrote on a GoFundMe page for him that her husband made friends and has been treated well. At first, Kathrine writes, her husband did not have access to his glasses, reading and writing materials, and warm clothing, but as of Jan. 31 that changed.
“We have no direct communication at all,” she wrote. “But now that we have a local legal team, they have visited him and we have exchanged messages. We still have no timeline of how long things will take to get him home.”
United States legislators with the Congressional-Executive Commission on China sent a letter to President Donald Trump in January urging him to meet with the families and speak with Chinese officials about the cases.
It remains unclear as to what evidence the Chinese government holds against Harlan and Petersen. China Horizons closed at the end of October after their arrests.
The families are not commenting to reporters on the situation, saying attorneys have advised them not to make statements.