The POUM was reorganized in hiding during the following period of the Spanish Civil War, with Rovira being elected a member of the clandestine Executive Committee. In October 1938 he was again arrested and imprisoned, although he was not included in the judicial process against the POUM, but was instead accused of participating in the May Events and other serious accusations. This process could not be completed due to the entry of the nationalist forces in Barcelona in January 1939. He managed to be released from the Barcelona Model Prison by a POUM commander and fled to France when the nationalists were close to the border.