SAN DIEGO -- Two North County men are back in San Diego after attending the trial of the men who kidnapped them and held for ransom.

Juergen Robert Ahlmann, 58, and James Edward Harrell, 67 returned home from Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday.

The two had testified against two of the five men accused of kidnapping Juergen and Ahlmann and holding them for ransom.

Last April the two fell victim to a Nairobi-based ransom scheme that investigators believe has targeted a number of foreign travelers in recent months, officials said.

Ahlmann and Harrell were taken in while looking for venture capitalists to invest in a business they were starting, authorities said. The nature of the endeavor has not been disclosed, though it may have involved the sale of diamonds.

Once in Kenya, however, the two were taken to a strange home, then chained and locked inside a room.

Two days after the men's arrival in Kenya, one of their wives received an e-mail message supposedly sent by her husband and asking for $10,000, ostensibly to pay "administrative expenses" for the transfer of the $5 million that had been promised to help start a business, FBI special agent Jan Caldwell said.

"Subsequent conversations with the two victims indicated that if the money was not sent soon, they would be in big trouble," Caldwell said.

The families of the two men then called the FBI and started working with an agent assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. With help from Kenyan law enforcement officials, the FBI set up bogus arrangements to deliver ransom for the release of the businessmen.

After 10 days of being held ransom, Ahlmann, Harrell and another man were finally set free. Earlier this month, the two men returned to Kenya and testified against their accused kidnappers.

"They had the nerve to look me in the eyes," Ahlmann said.

A verdict in the case is expected soon, and if convicted the men will be sentenced to more than 50 years in prison.

"They will not be able to live a year in prison in Kenya," Harrell said. "It will kill them."