After the assassination of Alexander I of Yugoslavia he was interned on Sardinia by Mussolini at the request of the Yugoslav government. After a general declaration of amnesty in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Francetić returned to Croatia in November 1937, but was immediately arrested and exiled to his hometown. The next year Francetić returned to Zagreb hoping to complete his study of law but was forced to complete his military service instead. In late 1940 he was again arrested in Zagreb because of a congratulatory telegraph to Jozef Tiso, president of the newly formed Slovak Republic (1939–1945), signed by a number of Croat nationalists. He was again exiled to his native Otočac. After delivering an inflammatory nationalistic speech at a local school's New Year's celebration in Otočac on January 12, 1941, he escaped to Germany to avoid another arrest.