prosecute
verb [ I or T ]
LAW uk/ˈprɒsɪkjuːt/ usto officially accuse someone in a court of law of committing a crime:
Trespassers will be prosecuted.
prosecute sb for sth In this area, 26 people have been prosecuted for mortgage fraud in the past three years.
if a lawyer prosecutes a case, they try to prove that a person accused of committing a crime is guilty:
prosecute a case/lawsuit The leader of the Justice Department team prosecuted a landmark lawsuit against tobacco companies.
Compare
defend