After the end of World War II in May, 1945 Busta lived under an alias and moved regularly between Germany and Austria. He was thus able to avoid appearing as a defendant at the 1947 Dora war crimes trial. He settled permanently in West Germany in 1952 and resumed using his real name. In November, 1967 he was one of three former SS staff members of Mittelbau-Dora indicted for war crimes by the district court of Essen. Busta entered a plea of not guilty to the charges that he had mistreated and murdered prisoners during his time at Mittelwerk. Busta was found guilty and sentenced to 8 years and a half years in prison on May 8, 1970. However, he never served his sentence owing to reasons of ill-health. Busta died in West Germany in 1982.