 Mečislovas Reinys was arrested by Soviet authorities on 12 June 1947; he was accused of anti-Soviet activities, and investigated for six months in the Vilnius KGB office.He was sentenced to eight years in jail and sent to Vladimir prison, where he died on 8 November 1953.In the 1990s a committee was formed to establish the grounds for canonisation of Reinys along with Teofilius Matulionis and Vincentas Borisevičius.