"Ivan separated 180 of the prisoners from the crowd and pardoned them. Then the first Clerk of the Council unrolled a scroll and called upon the condemned to answer. The first to be brought before him was Viskovati, and to him he read out: 'Ivan Mikhailovich, formerly a Counsellor of State, thou hast been found faithless to his Imperial Highness. Thou hast written to the King Sigismund offering him Novgorod: there thy first crime!' He paused to strike Viskovati on the head, then continued reading: 'And this thy second crime, not less heinous than thy first, O ungrateful and perfidious one! Thou hast written to the Sultan of Turkey, that he may take Astrakhan and Kazan,' whereupon he struck the condemned wretch twice, and continued: 'Also thou hast called upon the Khan of the Krim Tartars to enter and devastate Russia: this thy third crime.' Viskovati called God to witness that he was innocent, that he had always served faithfully his Tsar and his country: 'My earthly judges will not recognise the truth; but the Heavenly Judge knows my innocence! Thou also, O Prince, thou wilt recognise it before that tribunal on high!' Here the executioners interrupted, gagging him. He was then suspended, head downwards, his clothes torn off", and, Maluta Skutarov, the first to dismount from his horse and lead the attack, cut off an ear, then, little by little, his body was hacked to pieces.