Marcel Lihau

Marcel Antoine Lihau or Ebua Libana la Molengo Lihau (September 29, 1931 to April 9, 1999) was a Congolese jurist, professor of law, and politician. From 1968 to 1975, he served as the first head of the Congolese Supreme Court. Dean and participated in the formulation of two constitutions for the Democratic Republic of Congo.

With the help of compassionate Jesuit educators, Lihao attended the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium and became one of the first Congolese to study law. There, he encouraged Congolese politicians to form alliances so that they could ensure Congo’s independence from Belgium. Before being appointed to lead the committee that drafted a permanent national constitution, he briefly served as a judicial officer and negotiator of the Congolese central government. In 1963, he was appointed dean of the Law Department of Lovanium University. The following year, he helped to submit the "Luluburg Constitution" to the Congo, which was passed by a referendum.

In 1965, Joseph-Desiré Mobutu seized all control of the country and instructed Lihao to formulate a new constitution. Three years later, Lihao was appointed as the first president of the new Congolese Supreme Court. He has always advocated the position and the independence of the judiciary until 1975, when he refused to impose severe penalties on student protesters. Lihau was temporarily removed from his post by Mobutu and placed under house arrest. As he became increasingly opposed to the government, he helped establish a reform-oriented democratic and progressive social alliance. Mobutu responded by suspending his rights and banishing him to a village. Lihao's health is declining. He accepted a job as a professor of constitutional law at Harvard University in 1985, seeking to escape political persecution in the United States. He continued to advocate democracy in the Congo and returned to the country in 1990 to discuss political reforms. He returned to the United States to seek treatment and died in 1999.