The decision reportedly comes after an objection from Breivik’s attorney Oystein Storrvik, who wanted Mo removed from the case.
“We can confirm that we have succeeded in the petition and the court agreed with our argument,” Storrvik was quoted as saying by The Local news outlet.
Mo’s removal is reportedly based on the fact that she served as the state secretary in the Ministry of Finance in 2000-2001, when the government was made up solely of Labour Party members, while Breivik’s attack in 2011 targeted a meeting of Labour’s youth fraction, AUF, as the racist mass murderer blamed the Labour Party for giving rise to multiculturalism in Norway.
“State secretary is an important and high-profile political role, and she may thus appear outwardly as a supporter of the policy that Breivik attacked. Moreover, there were several ministers and state secretaries in this government who were directly affected by Breivik's attacks on Utoya. In the court's view, this special relationship as a whole can give the outside world and Breivik a reasonable and justifiable reason to doubt her impartiality,” the court ruled.
In April, the Oslo District Court ruled in Breivik’s favor stating that his solitary confinement conditions in the Skien prison violated the convicted terrorist’s human rights. Norway responded with an appeal against the ruling later that month.
