in late june 1940, bessarabia was occupied by the soviet union, and the nkvd swiftly arrested cecan. his antisemitic articles and his pnsr membership were brought up against him by the government of the moldavian ssr. on march 13, 1941, kishinev tribunal sentenced him to death as a "counterrevolutionary". his execution was postponed while his activity as a russophile was being reconsidered; some political figures intervened on his behalf with lavrentiy beria, the then-deputy premier. however, his cause became indefensible in june 1941, with a coordinated german–romanian attack on the soviet union. on june 27, five days after the start of war, cecan was secretly shot by the nkvd. though some works suggest that this took place in kishinev prison, nkvd files record his place of death as tiraspol.