Marcel Lihau (1931–1999) was a Congolese jurist, law professor, and
politician who helped create two constitutions for the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. He attended the Université catholique de Louvain
in Belgium, becoming one of the first Congolese to study law, and was
made dean of the law faculty at Lovanium University in 1963. The
following year, he helped deliver the Luluabourg Constitution, which the
Congolese adopted by referendum. In 1965, Joseph-Desiré Mobutu seized
control of the country and directed him to produce a new constitution.
Lihau was First President of the new Supreme Court of Justice of the
Congo from 1968 until 1975, when Mobutu summarily removed him from his
post and placed him under house arrest. After Lihau helped found the
reform-oriented Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social, Mobutu
suspended his rights and banished him to a rural village. Lihau
eventually moved to the United States, where he continued to advocate
for political reform in the Congo until his death.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Lihau>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1703:
English writer Daniel Defoe was imprisoned for seditious libel
after publishing a pamphlet that was perceived to satirise the Tories.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shortest_Way_with_the_Dissenters>
1851:
The Congress of Colombia passed a law abolishing slavery in the
country, to take effect at the beginning of the new year.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Colombia>
1924:
University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard
Loeb (both pictured) murdered a 14-year-old boy in a thrill killing out
of a desire to commit a "perfect crime".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb>
1998:
Indonesian president Suharto resigned following the collapse of
support for his presidency amid economic and political crises.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
orature:
The oral equivalent of literature: a collection of traditional folk
songs, stories, etc., that is communicated orally rather than in
writing. […]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/orature>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Teach me to feel another's woe, To right the fault I see; That
mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me.
--Alexander Pope
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope>
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