This is most definitely a rather heavily dramatized account of the execution. If the presented events were true then they would not explain why the remaining two convicts who were not properly hanged at the first attempt were ultimately executed even though they were not critical of the country. Quoted fragment also contains several other serious inaccuracies.

According to Jean-Henri Schnitzler, French historian and statistician who was in Sankt Petersburg at the time, the nooses put around the necks of Ryleyev, Muravyov-Apostol and Bestuzhev-Ryumin were too large, possibly due to executioner's error and slipped over the heads of the convicts who plummeted down the scaffold. While being escorted to the gallows again, Ryleyev was to say either 'All will be saying that I was so much a failure I couldn't even had died properly' or 'This accursed land, where they can't make a conspiracy, deliver a judgement or even hang a man!' although Schnitzler notes that the latter was also attributed by some to Muravyov-Apostol and was most likely not said by Bestuzhev-Ryumin who suffered heavy injuries during the fall and had to be carried to the gallows. French historian also notes that the entire execution started at 3 PM and ended no later than 5 PM and the tzar was at that time residing in his out-of-town residence in Carskoye Selo and thus could have not been informed of the initial failure, so the execution commenced as soon as the gallows were re-set. Regardless of the accuracy of the accounts, all five conspirators sentenced to death were hanged on the same day (13th July 1826 O.C.) so Ryleyev's fate could not have been decided by the tzar a day after the failed hanging attempt .

Now, the assumption that the convict could have been pardoned after botched execution has some basis in reality but from the historical perspective it is inaccurate in the context of 19th century Russia. Such provision existed in law until early 18th century, but it has been replaced by the article 204 of the Military Code issued on 25th April 1715 O.C. that explicitly mentioned that the capital punishment must be performed so that it results in the desired outcome'. It should also be noted that the botched execution was not unlikely, as the five Decembrists were the first people executed in Russia since the execution of Yemelyan Pugachov in 1775 and thus lack of experience in that matter was understandable (it is very probable that no one involved in the hanging had ever did anything remotely similar in their life).

The quoted passage implies that Ryleyev has been hanged alone, on personal order of Nicholas I. In truth, all five conspirators were senteced to death by the Supreme Criminal Court headed by counts Mordvinov and Spyeranski. Tzar was involved in the proceeedings, although he was instrumental in the limiting the number of the executions to five down from 36 proposed by the court as well as he ordered the executions to be conducted by hanging, as he deemed quartering or beheading too barbaric. He also rejected the idea of shooting as not befitting people who, after being senteced to be deprived of military and noble ranks, became civilian commoners in the eyes of the law. All five were were hanged together what could add to the complexity of the procedure that resulted in partial failure. Furthermore, the expression 'he shouted to the crowd' suggests that this was a public execution, even though it has been conducted in the southern half-bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress, what makes a presence of a larger civilian crown doubtful, although the author could have meant personnel of the fortress watching the execution or all people involved in the erection of the gallows, who were present at the site.

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Gordin, Y.M., Мятеж реформаторов: 14 декабря 1825 года - 4 августа 1830 года [Mutiny of the Reformers: 14th December 1825 - 4th August 1830], Pushkin Foundation Publishing Centre, Sankt-Peterburg 2016.