premise: Four US Marines are to face murder charges in connection with the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha last year, the military said Thursday.
  The four soldiers are among eight Marines who are to be prosecuted for their role in the killings on November last year, the most serious war crimes case involving US soldiers since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
  The charges were announced at a press conference at the Marines' Camp Pendleton base outside San Diego, in southern California,
  Prosecutors allege Marines went on a killing spree on November 19, 2005, shooting unarmed men, women and children after a comrade, Miguel Terrazaz, was killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol in Haditha.
  Defence lawyers have said the Marines followed established war-time rules of engagement and the deaths occurred after the soldiers became embroiled in a furious firefight with insurgents.
   What does prosecuted refer to?
hypothesis: face murder charges