Edward Jul Rød-Larsen, the 25-year-old son of two Norwegian diplomats under investigation for links to Jeffrey Epstein, was found dead in Oslo on Wednesday. A suicide, according to the family. And it came at the end of months of media pressure that did not stop following him to the same point.

The Rød-Larsen family was not „accidentally" close to Epstein. His father, Terje Rød-Larsen - former president of the International Peace Institute. His mother, Mona Juul - until February this year, Norway's ambassador to Jordan and Iraq. Now both are under investigation for serious corruption and ties to Epstein's circle. Epstein, in his will, left Edward 5 million dollars. Another 10 million were split between the two children of the couple.

In 2011, when the children were about 10 years old, the family visited Epstein's private island, Little Saint James. Later, Rød-Larsen wrote a thank-you note, describing the island as „completely unique". That is not an empty sentence. That is a document.

The family announced the death in a statement that accused the media of „speculation and at times boundless interest". But there is the dilemma: when a diplomatic couple is part of an investigation into corruption and sexual abuse at Epstein's scale, who decides where „criticism" becomes „boundless interest"? Don't the children of those diplomats deserve protection - or should that protection come from the media instead of from institutions?

For Balkan readers, this isn't a distant story. When a diplomat in the Balkans is under investigation and their family suffers, the reaction here is: it was natural, they are tired people, they cannot be protected. Norway is doing something different: the family is directly accusing the media. Debates are already opening about how public institutions should behave in cases of inherited links between young people and the children of scandal. That is the kind of responsibility Scandinavia accepts as its own - while here we still think someone else will take it on.