UNA transazione economica asettica, nello stile burocratico dei rogiti per la compravendita di immobili. Con una particolarità: davanti al notaio romano c'è anche un diplomatico americano, il "direttore del centro di management finanziario" dell'ambasciata Usa. Oggetto del contratto: la donazione di un milione e 185 mila euro, per chiudere il caso di Giovanni Lo Porto . Il documento bilingue siglato l'8 luglio scorso sembra una sorta di lapide tombale sulla speranza di avere la verità sull'operazione dei droni statunitensi in Pakistan che nel gennaio 2015 ha causato la morte del volontario palermitano, rapito tre anni prima da una formazione terroristica. Barack Obama in persona chiese scusa alla famiglia, assumendosi la responsabilità dell'azione "come presidente e come comandante in capo delle forze armate ".Il pagamento però non è un risarcimento ma solo una concessione a titolo "di favore": "ex gratia", appunto, una formula che non comporta alcuna assunzione di responsabilità giuridica. Si tratta soltanto di una "donazione in memoria del Sig. Giovanni Lo Porto ".È la prima volta dall'inizio della "guerra dei droni" che viene rivelato un documento di questo tipo. La campagna di attacchi condotti in tutti i continenti con aerei teleguidati, strumento prediletto dall'amministrazione Obama per la lotta al terrorismo, ha ucciso migliaia di persone, colpendo anche civili e bambini. Mai però finora era emerso il testo di un accordo tra il governo Usa e i familiari di una delle vittime innocenti. Repubblica ha contattato organizzazioni e legali che assistono - dalla Gran Bretagna alla Germania, dal Pakistan agli Stati Uniti - i parenti dei "caduti collaterali" di questa guerra segreta.L'avvocato Jennifer Gibson di "Reprieve" con sede a Londra, che rappresenta alcune di quelle famiglie, racconta: "Per quello che ci risulta, gli Stati Uniti non hanno mai ufficialmente risarcito nessuno in Pakistan per la morte dei loro congiunti innocenti. In Yemen, si sono verificati tre o quattro casi in cui ai parenti delle vittime sono stati offerti dei pacchi di dollari, che sembrano provenire dagli Usa. Ma quando le vittime hanno cercato di accertarne l'origine si sono trovati davanti a un rifiuto. Si tratta, dunque, di soldi messi sul tavolo senza il riconoscimento di responsabilità ".Anche il punto dieci della proposta di pagamento ai Lo Porto sottolinea che "la donazione è regolata dalla legge italiana. Ciò non implica il consenso degli Stati Uniti d'America all'esercizio della giurisdizione italiana in eventuali controversie direttamente o indirettamente connesse al presente atto. E in particolare il presente atto non implica una rinuncia all'immunità sovrana o personale". Dopo questi soldi, la famiglia sembra avere ancora meno strade per sapere cosa è esattamente successo e quali sono stati gli errori che hanno determinato la morte del loro parente.I Lo Porto, rappresentati dallo studio legale internazionale Saccucci Fares & Partners di Roma hanno sempre puntato a raggiungere la verità. "Nel corso delle trattative che hanno condotto all'atto di donazione", spiega l'avvocato Giulia Borgna, "questo tema è ovviamente venuto fuori. La famiglia continua a insistere su questo fronte". Contattato da Repubblica, il Dipartimento di Stato di Washington non ha voluto rilasciare dichiarazioni.Quello che sappiamo è che Giovanni Lo Porto venne rapito in Pakistan nel gennaio 2012 mentre lavorava per una Ong tedesca nell'assistenza alle popolazioni pachistane colpite dalle inondazioni. Fu sequestrato assieme a un suo collega tedesco, poi rilasciato. Tutto il resto della prigionia è avvolto nel mistero, inclusa l'esatta formazione che lo teneva in ostaggio. Poi nel gennaio 2015 è stato ucciso assieme al cittadino americano Warren Weinstein.È morto a 37 anni nell'attacco di un drone in uno dei tanti controversi "signature strike": bombardamenti in cui viene preso di mira un obiettivo solo perché appare sospetto, senza però alcuna informazione specifica sulla presenza certa di terroristi. E senza la possibilità di verificare quanti innocenti finiscano sotto tiro. 

 The US government has made a “donation” of $1.2 million (GBP 900,000) to the family of an Italian aid worker who was killed in an American drone strike on an al Qaeda compound where he was being held hostage in Pakistan. 
 
 It is believed to be the first time that such a deal has been disclosed in detail, as the US pursues an aggressive policy of drone attacks in Pakistan, Syria, Yemen and other countries, some of which have killed innocent civilians. 
 
 The Americans stipulated that the payment should in no way be seen as compensation because that would imply an admission of culpability. 
 
 Giovanni Lo Porto, 37, who completed a degree in international studies at London Metropolitan University, was killed in January last year when drones operated by the CIA struck an al Qaeda base on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. 
 
 He was being held hostage there, having been kidnapped by extremists in 2012 along with a colleague from the German NGO for which he was working. The German man was later freed in a raid by German special forces. 
 
 The US drone strike which inadvertently killed Mr Lo Porto also killed an American aid worker, Warren Weinstein. 

 Image copyright Facebook Image caption Lo Porto was killed in a drone strike in January 2015 
 
 The US government has agreed to pay €1.1m ($1.2m; £934,000) to the family of an Italian aid worker killed by a drone strike in Pakistan, reports say. 
 
 Aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto, 37, was killed while being held hostage by al-Qaeda in 2015. 
 
 US aid worker Warren Weinstein, 73, being held with him also died in the operation. 
 
 The White House has confirmed that payments were made to both families, without releasing details. 
 
 President Barack Obama admitted the deaths in April last year, saying that he profoundly regretted them. It was announced that compensation would be paid to the families. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Warren Weinstein appeared in a video in 2013 
 
 Officials said at the time that the operation had targeted an al-Qaeda compound in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that they had believed there were no civilians present. 
 
 But according to La Repubblica newspaper (in Italian) and the Guardian newspaper, the agreement states that Mr Lo Porto was killed inside Pakistan. 
 
 Important steps: Analysis by Tara McKelvey, BBC News, Washington 
 
 US military commanders have long tried to make condolence payments to families of innocent people who've been killed in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
 
 Making these payments has been harder when the civilians were killed in drone strikes in Pakistan, Libya and other places where the US is not officially at war, however. The drone strikes themselves were kept secret, and determining whether - or how - to provide money for victims' families has been fraught. 
 
 In July, however, President Obama released statistics on civilians killed in airstrikes outside of conventional war zones (official estimates of the dead range from 64 to 116). 
 
 And now the families of Giovanni Lo Porto and Warren Weinstein have received a payment. These are important steps for Mr Obama, part of a fitful, halting effort to provide transparency about the government's actions and to do the right thing, even when operating in the shadowy world of targeted killings. 
 
 The payment was considered a "donation in memory" of the Italian, La Repubblica says. 
 
 Mr Lo Porto had disappeared from Multan, Pakistan, in January 2012 but little is known about what happened then. He had worked for an international aid group called Welthungerhilfe. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption As commander-in-chief, Mr Obama said in April 2015 he took "full responsibility" for the operation 
 
 Mr Weinstein, a development worker, was kidnapped from his home in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2011. He had lived in Pakistan for seven years, working on economic development projects. 
 
 The strike also killed American Ahmed Farouq, described as an al-Qaeda leader. 

 Landmark deal follows US admission that Giovanni Lo Porto and Warren Weinstein were killed in counter-terrorism mission 
 
 The Obama administration has agreed to pay €1m (£850,000) to the family of an Italian aid worker who was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan in 2015. 
 
 It is the first known and documented payment of its kind made by the US government to the family of a drone-strike victim killed outside a declared warzone. 
 
 Giovanni Lo Porto, 37, was being held hostage by al-Qaida at the time of his death and his family had been led to believe a month before the strike that he was close to being released. 
 
 
 
 Giovanni Lo Porto, killed in US drone strike, was ‘incredibly loyal’ friend Read more 
 
 Last year, the US president, Barack Obama, acknowledged that Lo Porto and an American named Warren Weinstein, 73, had accidentally been killed in a secret counter-terrorism mission and expressed his regret for the deaths. 
 
 The payment was confirmed by the US embassy in Rome and Lo Porto’s brother, Daniele. Details of the agreement were first reported by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. 
 
 A spokesperson for the US embassy in Rome said the government had confirmed at the time the deaths were announced that it would be providing a condolence payment to both families. 
 
 “We did that knowing that no dollar figure would ever bring back their loved ones and, out of respect for the families, we are not sharing any details of those payments,” they said. 
 
 It is not clear whether the Weinstein family has also received a payment. 
 
 Experts say it is already understood that the US offers condolence payments to the families of civilian casualties of airstrikes in Afghanistan and Iraq, but that the Lo Porto agreement stands out because he was killed in Pakistan and because documents show the US was directly involved in the payment. 
 
 In Yemen, Faisal bin Ali Jaber, whose nephew and brother-in-law were killed in a 2012 drone strike, received a cash payment of $100,000 from a Yemeni official, and no acknowledgement or apology from the US. 
 
 The agreement between the US government and the Lo Porto family was signed on 8 July, according to documents obtained by La Repubblica that were shared with the Guardian. The payment – €1,185,000 in total – was considered a “donation in the memory of Giovanni Lo Porto”. 
 
 
 
 The agreement was signed by a diplomat named Garrett Stephen Wayne, in his role as financial management centre director of the US embassy in Rome. The agreement clarified that Lo Porto was killed in Pakistan. The White House acknowledged at the time of the announcement that he was killed in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The payment was made to Lo Porto’s mother, Giusy, who lives in Palermo, and his father, Vito. 
 
 The agreement includes this stipulation: “This does not imply the consent by the United States of America to the exercise of the jurisdiction of the Italian courts in disputes, if any, directly or indirectly connected with this instrument. Nothing in this instrument implies a waiver to sovereign or personal immunity.” 
 
 Jack Serle, an expert on the drone programme and journalist at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, said it was the first time he had heard of such a payment that had demonstrably come from the US Treasury. 
 
 “It has been a common tool in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is not accepting responsibility, but is used to try to soothe the anger, essentially saying sorry for the event and for what happened, while also not accepting responsibility,” Serle said. 
 
 People who study the issue said it was far from clear whether the development signified a shift in policy in favour of the families of victims. 
 
 “I don’t know what kind of impact this will have on all the other people who think they may have claims because nominally those strikes remain unavowed,” Serle said. 
 
 Jennifer Gibson, from the human rights group Reprieve, said payments were not a substitute for genuine transparency. 
 
 “I think at this point there is no indication that this goes beyond the compensation of a western hostage killed in a drone strike,” Gibson said. “The Lo Porto and Weinstein families are the only families that have been acknowledged and apologised to by the administration. Thus far there hasn’t been a single Pakistani or Yemeni family that has received the same acknowledgment.” 
 
 In a statement, Lo Porto’s mother expressed her sorrow about his death: “I will not see my son at home with his smile. They took my precious son and they also killed me. Now all that remains for me is to wait until the last day of my life for divine, not earthly, justice.” 
 
 The White House acknowledged the US killed Lo Porto and Weinstein last April, four months after the drone strike in January against an al-Qaida compound. The admission was made only days after the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, visited the White House. 
 
 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Barack Obama makes a statement about the death of the two hostages at the White House in April 2015. Photograph: EPA 
 
 The US government announced in July that drone and other airstrikes have killed between 64 and 116 civilians during Obama’s administration, a tally that was criticised as too low by some experts. 
 
 Between 2009 and 31 December 2015, the administration claimed that it launched 473 strikes, mostly with drones, that killed between 2,372 and 2,581 terrorist “combatants”. 
 
 A report in the Washington Post last year said the CIA was investigating a “surveillance lapse” as part of an internal investigation into the killing of Weinstein. Citing US officials, the report said footage examined before the lethal drone strike showed a possible hostage in the area. 
 
 
 
 In an interview with the Guardian earlier this year, Daniele Lo Porto said his family felt abandoned by Italian and US officials, who never got in touch again after the initial round of public condolences. 
 
 It is unclear why the US agreed to make the payment in July and the embassy declined to provide any further details about the transaction. 

 Media caption Barack Obama said it was a "painful" time 
 
 The White House has said that a US counterterrorism operation in January accidentally killed two hostages who were being held by al-Qaeda. 
 
 Warren Weinstein, an American, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian, were killed in the raid in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan. 
 
 President Barack Obama described it as a painful loss he profoundly regretted. 
 
 Two other Americans thought to be al-Qaeda members were also killed, one of them in the same raid. 
 
 The White House said Ahmed Farouq, an al-Qaeda leader, was killed in that operation and Adam Gadahn, once regarded as a spokesman for the militant group, was killed in a separate raid. 
 
 Unnamed officials told Associated Press the attack that killed the hostages was a CIA drone strike. 
 
 Who were the hostages? 
 
 Image caption Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto 
 
 Warren Weinstein, 72, an American development worker, was kidnapped from his home in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2011. He had lived in Pakistan for seven years, working on economic development projects. 
 
 Giovanni Lo Porto, a 39-year-old Italian, was kidnapped in Multan, Pakistan, in January 2012. He worked for an international aid group called Welthungerhilfe 
 
 The president, speaking at the White House about the operation that killed the hostages, said the US had launched the raid in the belief the target was an al-Qaeda compound with no civilians present. 
 
 As commander-in-chief, he said, he took "full responsibility" for the operation. 
 
 The White House said compensation would be paid to the families of the hostages. 
 
 Mr Weinstein's wife Elaine said in a statement the family was "devastated". 
 
 "Those who took Warren captive over three years ago bear ultimate responsibility," she added. 
 
 Media caption Warren Weinstein's family spoke to the BBC in 2013 
 
 Image caption Warren Weinstein (right) with his family 
 
 Image caption Warren Weinstein appeared in a video in 2013 
 
 She thanked several members of the US congress and unnamed officials from the FBI, but said the assistance received from "other elements of the US government was inconsistent and disappointing". 
 
 Mrs Weinstein also criticised the Pakistani government and military who, she said, treated her husband's captivity "as more of an annoyance than a priority". 
 
 President Obama said the operation was in compliance with the White House's counterterrorism protocols. 
 
 It's a "bitter truth in the fog war" that mistakes occur, but what sets America apart is facing up squarely to its mistakes, he said. 
 
 Weinstein, 73, was abducted in Lahore in 2011, where he was working as an aid worker. Lo Porto disappeared from Multan, Pakistan in January 2012. Both men were aid workers. 
 
 "There could be no starker contrast between these two selfless men and their al-Qaeda captors," the president said. 
 
 He also announced a review into the tragedy. 
 
 Who was Adam Gadahn? 
 
 Image caption Adam Gadahn appeared in a video in 2008 
 
 Changed his last name from Pearlman, grew up in California and converted to Islam in his teens 
 
 In 1998 moved to Pakistan and worked as a translator for al-Qaeda 
 
 Charged with treason - the first person since the World War II era - in the US and had a $1m bounty on his head 
 
 In 2013 video, called for militants to attack Western diplomats 
 
 Adam Gadahn: Al-Qaeda's propagandist
– La Repubblica and the Telegraph say it's a "donation in memory," not compensation, but whatever the term, the US government has agreed to pay around $1.3 million to the family of an Italian aid worker killed by a drone strike in Pakistan, the BBC reports. Giovanni Lo Porto, 37, was an al-Qaeda hostage in January 2015 in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan when the drone struck, accidentally killing Lo Porto and American aid worker Warren Weinstein, 73, the Guardian reports. The US acknowledged their deaths in April of that year, with President Obama saying that he took "full responsibility" for the counterterrorism effort and that the US believed there were no civilians at the attack site, per the BBC. It's believed to be the first time an offer for such a payment has been revealed in detail. It was confirmed by the US Embassy in Rome and Lo Porto's brother and made to Lo Porto's family in July, per a legal document obtained by La Repubblica. (The US released over the summer its first estimate of civilian drone-strike deaths.)