Local prosecutors have quashed an indictment against seven villagers in northern Hebei Province who stood accused of extorting authorities for compensation in a land acquisition dispute four years ago.

The People's Procuratorate in Chongli county said May 18 their petitions for higher compensation did not constitute extortion, villagers told the Global Times on Thursday, citing a court letter.

The decision marks a U-turn from the previous charge against the group of "extorting a huge amount of money and property by threatening and blackmailing," which subjected the dairy farmers to 10 months of detention.

A total of 114 households had to make way for a privately invested piece of farmland, and local officials in charge of the project promised compensation from about 6,000 yuan to tens of thousands for each household, villagers said.

Jia Wen and six other villagers, among the affected families, said they were dissatisfied with the amount and went to the construction site with shovels and petitioned for 200,000 yuan compensation for each household. No violence was reported at the scene.

Ma Jiang, an official in charge of land acquisition at the time, settled the dispute at 160,000 yuan of compensation for each of them in 2007, according to Jia.

However, the seven villagers were later taken into custody as the local people's procuratorate said the group had broken the law by extorting the local government for more than 600,000 yuan (US$92,600) in compensation.

Ma was arrested for abuse of power and sentenced to three years' imprisonment.

Local prosecutors decided not to press any charges against the seven villagers and freed them from custody in May, without explanation.

Local officials and prosecutors refused to comment on the matter on Thursday.

"Some of our neighbors still haven't received a penny since the acquisition started four years ago," Li Xiuping, Jia's wife, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"We now ask for 200,000 yuan of additional compensation each for what we have been through. We didn't deserve it at all," Jia said.

Shen Yue, a Beijing-based lawyer specializing in criminal law, told the Global Times that the seven villagers are entitled to ask for state compensation, but the chances of their demands being met are slim.

However, Shen said with the central government giving greater attention to the issue, cases of extreme measures taken against petitioners should see a decrease.

Local government-led illegal land acquisition cases increased in the first quarter of this year, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources. Among 869 tip-offs the ministry received, 17 major cases are being investigated.

The notice from the ministry in mid-May said local land resources departments should map out emergency programs to cope with land disputes to avoid suppressing the public in a "simple and rude" way, which might result in malicious and mass incidents.

Effective measures should be taken to stop illegal forced demolitions, as well as violence and coercion during the demolition process, it said.

Also, efforts should be made to prevent and solve disputes, said a circular issued by the General Office of the State Council made public in May.

Dong Liming, vice director-general of the China Land Science Society, said a lack of implementation was a major reason illegal land expropriation and demolition cases occurred.

"In some incidents, local authorities act against the law to get benefits out of land acquisitions. Officials took advantage of it. They need to be strictly regulated and monitored," Dong told the Global Times.