Mika Špiljak ( Odra Sisačka 28 November 1916 -

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

18 May 2007) was a Croatian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who spent most of his political career as a member of the

League of Communists of Yugoslavia The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats ...

in the

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. He served as

President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia The office of the president of the Presidency of Yugoslavia, Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, , existed from the Death and state funeral of Josip Broz Tito, death of the President of the Republic Josip Broz Tito on 4 M ...

from 1983 to 1984 and was also Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from 1967 to 1969. Špiljak was previously President of the Executive Council of SR Croatia from 1963 to 1967. He was also President of the League of Communists of Croatia from 1984 to 1986.

Early years

He was born in Odra Sisačka (part of Sisak), in the

Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (; or ; ) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was created in 1868 by merging the kingdoms of Kingdom of Croatia (Habs ...

(present-day

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

). His father Dragutin was a railway worker. Špiljak began working at the age of 16. He joined the Communist Party in 1938 and fought with Partisans during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Career

From 1949 to 1950, he was the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

. In 1963, Špiljak was appointed the Chairman of the Executive Council of Croatia and served until his 1967 appointment as the President of the Federal Executive Council, Yugoslavia's

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. He served in that capacity until 1969. Špiljak then served as President of the collective

Presidency of Yugoslavia The Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, , , was the collective head of state of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It was established in 1971 according to amendments to the 1963 Yugoslav Constitution, 1963 Co ...

from 1983 until 1984. While holding this office, Špiljak opened the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian language, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: ; ) and commonly known as Sarajevo '84 (Serbian Cy ...

. He was subsequently elected President of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Croatia from 1984 until 1986.

Death

He died in 2007 at the age of 90. He was

cremated Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

in Zagreb. In the 2000s (decade), German courts linked Špiljak to the assassination of Croatian emigrant

Stjepan Đureković Stjepan Đureković (8 August 1926 – 28 July 1983) was a Croatian political dissident and businessman who was assassinated by the Yugoslavian State Security Administration (UDBA) in West Germany in 1983. He was previously the CEO of the state- ...

in 1983.U Njemačkoj uhićen bivši jugoslavenski agent zbog ubojstva Stjepana Đurekovića
Slobodna Dalmacija After the hearings in Germany, all the links connecting him to the assassination were dropped.

References

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