Experts have criticized the local government in Guiwubao township, Jiangsu Province for forcing petitioners to pay "caution money" with the promise of returning it to them only if they do not petition for one year.

Zhang Wenyan, a villager who petitioned authorities in the provincial capital Nanjing over a land dispute in 2009, was forced by the township government to pay 500 yuan ($74) as a deposit.

"They would not let me go until I paid the money," Zhang told the Global Times Tuesday, adding he eventually paid 300 yuan ($44).

Zhang then received an official receipt, and officials warned him that he would not get his money back if he petitioned again within a year.

Wang Jinchang, a villager who currently works in Shanghai, told the Global Times that he was also asked to pay 500 yuan for petitioning authorities, as were several other villagers, the Nanjing-based Modern Express reported.

However, over a year on, the petitioners have still not received their money.

"I didn't dare to petition again after I paid my caution money, but now 18 months have passed, and not a single penny has been returned," Zhang told the Global Times.

Wei Zhongyi, a former member of the politics and law committee at the township, confirmed the existence of the system to the Global Times Tuesday, but said that Zhang's petitioning had been illegal.

Wei told the Modern Express that he had tried to return the money, but Zhang refused.

Some experts have been critical of the township's actions. "There is no legal basis for a government to charge caution money to petitioners. Such behavior is just another illegal measure that is used to stop petitioning," Yu Jianrong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Tuesday.

While authorities have previously used physical violence or detention to deal with petitioners, Yu believes that deterrence and threats are becoming another common strategy.

"The deterrent of economic losses in Guiwubao township is not the worst scenario," Yu said.

When Xu Huiping, a 66-year-old woman from a village in Chongshan district, Nantong, Jiangsu Province petitioned authorities in Beijing, the district government forced her son-in-law to divorce his wife in order to pressure her to return last October, Xu told the Global Times.