Mika Špiljak was a Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

n politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

.

He was born in Odra Sisačka

Odra Sisačka

Odra Sisačka is a village in Croatia. It is part of Sisak. It is connected by the D36 highway....

 (part of Sisak

Sisak

Sisak is a city in central Croatia. The city's population in 2011 was 33,049, with a total of 49,699 in the administrative region and it is also the administrative centre of the Sisak-Moslavina county...

). His father Dragutin was a railway worker. Špiljak began working at the age of 16. He joined the Communist Party

Communist party

A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...

 in 1938 and fought with Partisans

Partisans (Yugoslavia)

The Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II anti-fascist resistance movement in Yugoslavia...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

From 1945 to 1949, he was the mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Zagreb

Zagreb

Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

.

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

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

. He served in that capacity until 1969.

Špiljak then served as Chairman of the Collective Presidency of Yugoslavia from 1983 until 1984. He was subsequently appointed as the Secretary of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Croatia from 1984 until 1986.

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

In the 2000s, German courts linked Špiljak to the assassination of Croatian emigrant Stjepan Đureković in 1983.