Can the Crime of "Persecution" Encompass Hate Speech?

the present paper discusses attempts by prosecutors and international criminal tribunals to encompass hate speech within the model fact situation of the crime of "persecution". the vagueness of this crime definition enables the interpreter to use it as a container in which to place criminal acts that, due to substantial or evidentiary shortcomings, cannot otherwise be penalized. this situation, and the conditions it presupposes, endanger the principle of legality and therefore demand careful analysis on the part of the jurist in order to test the accuracy of dubious enforcement such that with respect to hate speech.