Four Kenyan men who had been sentenced to life in prison in South Sudan over fraud claims returned to the country on Wednesday evening reportedly after talks between Presidents Uhuru Kenyata and Salva Kiir secured their release.

The Juba four as they’ve popularly been referred to, namely; Antony Keya, Boniface Muriuki, Ravi Ghaghda and Anthony Wazome have been languishing in prison after they were arrested on May 29, 2015 by the National Security Service of the government of South Sudan.

They were convicted in June 2016 and jailed for life for allegedly stealing 1.4 billion from President Salva Kiir’s office.

In April, The South Sudan Court of Appeal ordered for the retrial of the Juba Four Kenyans.

The accused are former employees of a company known as Click Technologies limited owned by John Ogou, a politician and brother-in-law of South Sudan President Salva Kiir who used to work as a senior security officer in President Kiir’s office, before he was  accused of forging documents bearing the president’s signature to secure financial approvals from the country’s central bank.

Their families and human rights activists have been putting pressure on the government to intervene on the case and bring the four Kenyans home.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHCR) last November sued foreign Affairs cabinet secretary Amina Mohammed, her Principal Secretary and the Attorney-General Githu Muigai over the detention of the four and also accused the government of hiding crucial information from families of the four victims.

Although the families of the four are yet to meet them, since they were sneaked out of JKIA following their arrival last evening, they are relieved that their kin are back home, alive and well.

President Uhuru will allegedly reveal the juba four to the public today.