Marcel Lihau

Marcel Lihau

Marcel Antoine Lihau was a Congolese jurist, law professor and politician. He was the inaugural First President of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Congo from 1968 until 1975. He helped create two functional constitutions for the Democratic Republic of Congo. He encouraged Belgian clergy to join the side of Congolesese activists.

About Marcel Lihau in brief

Summary Marcel LihauMarcel Antoine Lihau was a Congolese jurist, law professor and politician. He was the inaugural First President of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Congo from 1968 until 1975. He helped create two functional constitutions for the Democratic Republic of Congo. He died in 1999 in the U.S. and was remembered for his role in securing the Congo’s independence from Belgium in 1960. He encouraged Belgian clergy to join the side of Congolesese activists and abandon what he referred to as an attitude of “clerical paternalism”. He was a professor of constitutional law at Harvard University from 1985 to 1990, when he returned to the Congo to discuss political reform. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. He had a son and two step-daughters, both of whom are still living in the Congo today. He also had a daughter and a son-in-law, who are both still alive in the United States. He has a grandson and a great-grandson who are currently living in New York City. His great-great-granddaughter is the former First Lady of Congo, Marie-Louise Léopoldville-Lihau, a former first lady of the Republic of the Congolos. He served as president of the Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social. He wrote a book on the history of the country, The Congo: A History of a People’s Struggle for Democracy, published by Simon & Schuster, with a foreword by Jean-Michel Cousteau, in which he wrote: “The Congo: The Story of a Nation, A People’s Struggle For Democracy, A Theory of Democracy, and a Theory of History”.

He also wrote a biography of Joseph-Desiré Mobutu. He lived in Louvain, the capital of the DR Congo, until his death in 1999. He left a fortune in investments and investments, including real estate, real estate and real estate development. He spent most of his time in Belgium, where he lived with his wife and two children. He worked for the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium as a law professor. In 1962, after spending time in the DR, he became a Doctor of Philosophy law student. In 1963, he was made dean of law faculty at Lovanium University in Belgium. The following year he helped deliver the Luluabourg Constitution to theCongolese, which was adopted by referendum. In 1965 he was appointed to lead a commission to draft a permanent national constitution. He retained the position, advocating for judicial independence, until 1975 when he refused to force a harsh sentence upon student protesters. In 1975 he was summarily removed from his post byMobutu and placed under house arrest. His health in decline, he sought refuge from political persecution in the US in 1985, accepting a job as a teacher at Harvard. He continued to advocate for democracy in the country in 1990. He went back to the country to seek medical treatment and died there in 1999, aged 80.