A higher court upheld the original sentences of four chengguan, or urban patrol officers, in Linwu county, Hunan province, on Thursday, China News Service reported.

The four had all been sentenced to prison for intentional injury, with one receiving an 11-year jail term, following a dispute with a melon farmer that caused the death of the vendor on July 17, 2013, by a local court at the end of last year.

The four later appealed to the higher court and, on April 23, the intermediate people's court in Chenzhou started the second trial of the case, the report said.

During that trial, Liao Weichang, the officer sentenced to 11 years imprisonment, said he had pushed the vendor but did not intentionally injure him. Yuan Cheng, who was sentenced to six years in jail, said his actions at the time were justifiable defense, according to the report.

The other two convicts, Luo Weiping and Xia Jiyu, added that the original judgment was unfair, as they did not mean to injure the vendor.

However, the original verdict was upheld by the intermediate people's court after further investigation, the report added.