In 2003 the Court of Milan, condemned the journalist Riccardo
Orizio and the editor-in-chief of Corriere della Sera, Ferruccio de
Bortoli, for the charges attributed to them, respectively libel
with aggravated circumstances and omitted control, in relation to
the unmotivated involvement of the Group in a presumed case of
exploitation of child labour in Turkey (1998).
The Milan Court confirmed that:
Benetton was in no way aware of the phenomenon reported by
Orizio;
Benetton has in no way ever been involved in this supposed
exploitation;
Under-age workers have never been
used for the production of garments under the direct control of the
Benetton Group, nor Benetton had a policy of decentralizing
production to Turkey for the manufacture of low-cost
garments.