Derk Sauer Lecture by Evan Gershkovich

The inaugural Derk Sauer Lecture will be delivered by journalist Evan Gershkovich, who spent nearly a year and a half in a Russian prison. The Derk Sauer Lecture is an initiative by Het Parool, The Moscow Times, and De Balie to, in the spirit of the late Derk Sauer, who passed away last year, highlight the importance of press freedom at a time when that freedom is increasingly under threat.

Evan Gershkovich’s name made headlines around the world in 2023 after he was arrested in Russia. The Wall Street Journal correspondent was accused by the Russian authorities of spying for the U.S. government. Following a closed-door show trial, Gershkovich was sentenced to sixteen years in a penal colony. One month later, he was released as part of a prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia. In total, he spent nearly a year and a half in captivity.

The first Derk Sauer Lecture, a collaboration between Het Parool, The Moscow Times, and De Balie, will be delivered by Evan Gershkovich. He will offer a unique insight into Putin’s Russia, the methods of the FSB, and the harsh and isolated reality of the Russian prison system.

Evan Gershkovich was a friend of Derk Sauer. He began his journalism career at The Moscow Times, the newspaper founded by Sauer. In his column for Het Parool, Sauer regularly wrote about Gershkovich’s case. In an open letter published in Het Parool in 2023, Sauer wrote: “One of the first things Evan Gershkovich did when he returned to American soil was to draw attention to the prisoners who had been left behind. ‘I will devote all my energy to securing their freedom as well.’ That’s Evan.”

About Evan Gershkovich

Evan Gershkovich (1991) is an American journalist. He has worked for The New York Times and The Moscow Times, among other publications, and currently works for The Wall Street Journal. He was serving as the newspaper’s correspondent in Russia when he was arrested. His book This Cursed Beautiful Country, in which he reflects on this period of his life, will be published in September.

About Derk Sauer

Derk Sauer (1952–2025) was a Dutch journalist and media entrepreneur. In 1989, he moved to Moscow, where he founded the English-language newspaper The Moscow Times. For 34 years, Sauer chronicled his life in Russia through his column in Het Parool. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he returned to the Netherlands and relocated The Moscow Times to Amsterdam, from where the newspaper continued its independent reporting on Russia.

Sauer was closely involved with De Balie as a member of its Supervisory Board. He was also one of the initiators of the exhibition Artists Against the Kremlin, hosted at De Balie. Sauer passed away in 2025. The Derk Sauer Lecture is being held for the first time this year to defend global press freedom, a cause that Sauer championed throughout his life, at a time when it is coming under increasing pressure.