Persecute or persecute means to unfairly or illegally hound or haunt someone, to injure, torture, or harass, particularly, but not exclusively, because of religion or belief--
It was a custom of the ancient Romans to persecute Christians by feeding then to the lions.
Many of our news organizations believe it is wrong to persecute people.
Prosecute or prosecute means to bring to trial in a criminal case--
The district attorney decided to prosecute the man for murder.
Only the state may prosecute criminals.
Now that you know that, you can say--
"To prosecute is not necessarily the same as to persecute."
Note--the different forms of these two words follow the same pattern--persecution, prosecution, persecutor, prosecutor, persecuted, prosecuted, persecuting, prosecuting, persecutes, prosecutes...
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