The nine people -- all members of the Farmers' Confederation previously headed by anti-globalisation campaigner Jose Bove -- were the second lot of activists to have charges against them dismissed in France.

A court in the central French city of Orleans last month acquitted 49 people who had been charged with organised vandalism for uprooting GM maize planted in France by the US biotechnology group Monsanto.

The judge said in that December case that the activists were justified in their action because "the unbridled distribution of modified genes... constitutes a clear and present danger for the well-being of others, in the sense that it could be the source of contamination and unwanted pollution."

Both decisions are now subject to appeals by state prosecutors.

The nine acquitted Thursday expressed satisfaction with the ruling and predicted that the two dismissed cases could form jurisprudence for other anti-GM protesters.

"The courts have recognised the danger (of GM crops) is imminent. By acquitting us, this court said our action was important and legitimate," one of them, farmer Nicolas Duntze, said.

Another, Rene Louail, said: "This confirms the decision from Orleans and legitimises our action. It is about a fight by citizens against multinationals that want to plant GM crops on our territory."

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