Battisti was sentenced to 12 years for being a member of an armed group and for the material killing of two people and instigating another two homicides. He fled to France in 1981, where he received protection under the Mitterrand doctrine. Later, he was tried "in absentia" based on testimony in Pietro Mutti's trial implicating him in four murders, bringing the total number of charges against him to 36. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1995. After the "de facto" repeal of the Mitterrand doctrine in 2002, Battisti fled to Brazil under a false identity to avoid a possible extradition.