A prominent Dominican businessman has launched a push for legal scrutiny after claiming surveillance by agents linked to the country’s top elected official caught on closed-circuit camera footage. Gregor Nassief confirmed this week that he has retained legal counsel to explore his options, following the discovery of what he says is visual evidence showing two members of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit’s personal security detail attending a closed civic discussion hosted at Roseau’s Fort Young Hotel on August 26.
The private gathering, organized as a space for civil society stakeholders to exchange views on matters of public concern, was never advertised to government officials, and none of the security personnel assigned to the Prime Minister were formally invited to attend, according to people close to Nassief. The uninvited presence of the two agents, captured on the venue’s internal security system, has raised serious questions about the extent of government monitoring of opposition-aligned and independent civil society activity in Dominica.
Nassief, a well-known figure in the Dominican private sector with long-standing ties to community organizing efforts, has not yet formally filed court documents, but his legal team confirmed they are reviewing the footage and collecting witness statements to assess potential violations of constitutional protections for privacy and freedom of assembly. The incident has already sparked debate among local political observers, who note that it comes amid growing tensions between the Skerrit administration and opposition and civil society groups pushing for greater transparency and electoral reform in the Caribbean island nation. As of this reporting, the Prime Minister’s office has not issued any formal response to the allegations surrounding the incident at Fort Young Hotel.