Marcel Lihau

Marcel Lihau
Lihau c. 1990
First President of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Democratic Republic of the Congo[a]
In office 23 November 1968 – June 1975
President	Joseph-Desiré Mobutu
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Bayona Bameya
Secretary of State for Justice of the Republic of the Congo
In office 9 February 1961 – 2 August 1961
President	Joseph Kasa-Vubu
Prime Minister	Joseph Iléo
Succeeded by	Paul Bolya
Commissioner-General of Justice of the Republic of the Congo
In office September 1960 – 9 February 1961
Deputy	Étienne Tshisekedi
Personal details
Born	Marcel Antoine Lihau (1931-09-29)29 September 1931 Bumba, Équateur, Belgian Congo
Died	9 April 1999(1999-04-09) (aged 67) Boston, Massachusetts, US
Resting place	Gombe, Kinshasa
Political party	MPR (1971–1975) UDPS (1982–1993)
Spouse	Sophie Kanza ​ (m. 1964)​
Alma mater	Catholic University of Leuven

Marcel Antoine Lihau or Ebua Libana la Molengo Lihau (29 September 1931 – 9 April 1999) was a Congolese jurist, law professor and politician who served as the inaugural First President of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Congo from 1968 until 1975, and was involved in the creation of two constitutions for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Lihau attended the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium with the help of sympathetic Jesuit educators, becoming one of the first Congolese to study law. While there he encouraged Congolese politicians to form an alliance that allowed them to secure the independence of the Congo from Belgium. He served briefly as a justice official and negotiator for the Congolese central government before being appointed to lead a commission to draft a permanent national constitution. He was made dean of law faculty at Lovanium University in 1963. The following year he helped deliver the Luluabourg Constitution to the Congolese, which was adopted by referendum.

In 1965, Joseph-Desiré Mobutu seized total control of the country and directed Lihau to produce a new constitution. Three years later Lihau was appointed First President of the new Supreme Court of Justice of the Congo. He retained the position, advocating for judicial independence, until 1975, when he refused to force a harsh sentence upon student protesters. Lihau was summarily removed from his post by Mobutu and placed under house arrest. Becoming increasingly opposed to the government, he helped found the reform-oriented Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social. Mobutu responded by suspending his rights and banishing him to a rural village. His health in decline, Lihau sought refuge from political persecution in the United States in 1985, accepting a job as a professor of constitutional law at Harvard University. He continued to advocate for democracy in the Congo and returned to the country in 1990, to discuss political reform. He went back to the United States to seek medical treatment and died there in 1999.
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