Morten Ruud (born 25 February 1950) is a Norwegian

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. Ruud graduated as

cand.jur. Candidate of Law (Latin: ''candidatus/candidata juris/iuris'') is both a graduate law degree awarded to law students in the Nordic region as well as an academic status designation for advanced Law School students in German-speaking countries. ...

in 1974 from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

, and took the Norwegian National Defence College in 1985. From 1976, he has spent most of his career in the

Ministry of Justice and the Police The Royal Ministry of Justice and Public Security ( no, Det kongelige justis- og beredskapsdepartement) is a Norwegian government ministry that oversees justice, the police, and domestic intelligence. The main purpose of the ministry is to provide ...

, except for the years 1977 to 1978, when he was a deputy judge, and the years 1998 to 2001 when he was the Governor of Svalbard. In the Ministry of Justice, he was promoted to deputy under-secretary of state in 1990, special adviser on 1 January 1997, and then permanent under-secretary of state on 22 August 1997. He left as permanent under-secretary of state in 2012. While serving in Svalbard, Ruud and his Deputy Governor Rune Bård Hansen expelled three young men from Svalbard, invoking—for the first time in history—a 1976 provision, that allowed for expulsion of convicted felons if deemed liable to commit new criminal acts. Ruud was criticized as "almighty" by the commentator of ''

Verdens Gang ''Verdens Gang'' ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. ''VG'' is n ...

''. '' Nordlys'' described the event as "embarrassing and unworthy" bullying.

References

1950 births Living people Norwegian civil servants Norwegian jurists University of Oslo alumni Governors of Svalbard {{Svalbard-bio-stub