HONG KONG - Four former Hong Kong lawmakers were released on Tuesday for more than four years after being convicted of a Beijing-mandated security law that destroyed the once-exploited pro-democracy movement.

Claudia Mo, Jeremy Tam, Kwok Ka-ki and Gary Fan are the 47 activists arrested in 2021 for their role in the unofficial primary. They were the first convicted activist to be separated after reunited with their family and friends.

Only vehicles participating in the release can leave three prisons in remote areas of Hong Kong. The safety is tight and the curtains on the vehicle are closed.

Mo's husband Philip Bowring told reporters he was happy Mo was back home and said she was "very good and refreshed." But he said she would not be interviewed for the time being. "She has to get used to life again outside," he said at the door, adding that they may later go to England to meet their grandson.

In the video released by local online media HK01, Fan thanks Hong Kong people and the media for their attention. He added that he will be reunited with his family.

The informal primary in 2020 attracted 610,000 voters and its winner is expected to be promoted to formal legislative elections. However, authorities delayed this, citing public health risks during the Covid-19-19 pandemic.

The aim of the radicals was to paralyze the Hong Kong government and force the city leaders to resign to win a legislative majority and use it to block the government's budget, prosecutors said during the trial. In a judgment last year, the judge said that activists’ plans to achieve change through informal primary elections would undermine government power and create a constitutional crisis.

Only two of the 47 original defendants were acquitted. The rest of the activists received prison terms ranging from four years and two months to 10 years, accusing them of conspiracy to subvert. Mo, Tam, Kwok and Fan plead guilty and obtained reduced sentences.

Their years of separation have caused pain to the militants and their families. The case involves democratic advocates across the spectrum. They include Benny Tai, a legal scholar who is 10 years in prison and Joshua Wong, a former student leader, who must serve four years and eight months.

There were 14 convicted activists appealing, and prosecutors appealed the acquittal of one activist. All appeals are waiting.

Critics of the court action brought by activists say their beliefs illustrate how authorities suppress dissidents after a massive anti-government protest in 2019, while also undermining media freedom and reducing public choices in elections. They say the drastic political changes reflect the shrinking of Hong Kong's civil liberties that Beijing had retained for 50 years after its 50-year transfer to China in 1997.

The Beijing and Hong Kong governments insist that the National Security Act is necessary for stability in the city. Despite criticism from foreign governments, China defends the judicial ruling.