He was overthrown, had his nose cut off, and was exiled to the Crimea. After conspiring to return to power, he was summoned back to Constantinople for additional punishment; but instead he escaped to the steppes and married the daughter of the Khazar kaghan. The Byzantines negotiated with the Khazars to have Justinian extradited, but Justinian was warned by his wife and killed the Khazar officials sent to capture him. Next he escaped to the Bulgars, married his daughter to the Bulgar Khan, and convinced the Khan to lend him an army to re-take the throne. So he appeared before the walls of Constantinople at the head of a barbarian army, but the city refused to surrender. Finally he used his knowledge of the city’s geography to crawl in through the sewers and took the throne by surprise.