THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF RUSSIA AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT 25 85. The applicants argued that, although they had made use of that remedy, it had finally proved to be ineffective because the examination of the applicants’ complaints was procedurally flawed. The Court would observe, however, that not every procedural shortcoming results in the “ineffectiveness” of the remedy in question. Article 13 does not impose on States the same obligations as Article 6 of the Convention. To hold otherwise would be tantamount to extending the scope of Article 6 beyond disputes concerning “civil rights and obligations” (see Golder v. the United Kingdom, 21 February 1975, § 33, Series A no. 18, and Silver and Others v. the United Kingdom, 25 March 1983, § 113, Series A no. 61, with further references). 86. Turning to the present case, the Court notes that the applicants’ allegations were reviewed at two levels of jurisdiction by the Supreme Court of Russia, the highest judicial body in electoral matters, which had full jurisdiction over the case and which was entitled inter alia to invalidate the results of the elections. The independence of the Supreme Court as such was not called into question. As to its impartiality, the Court does not see any major issue here either. The fact that Justice Zaytsev refused several procedural motions lodged by the applicants and even considered them vexatious (see paragraph 34 above) does not mean that he was biased or predetermined to reject their claim. Therefore, the Supreme Court was an appropriate body to consider the applicants’ grievances. 87. Furthermore, the Court does not detect any serious flaws in the procedure before the Supreme Court which would make that remedy ineffective. The applicants were well prepared for the hearings, had gathered and produced extensive material in support of their claims and were able to make long oral and written submissions. The sampling method applied by the Supreme Court to examine the materials submitted by the applicants (see paragraph 37 above) does not seem arbitrary or manifestly unreasonable. In particular, the Court notes that the Supreme Court examined recordings of five television channels for 14 days that had been proposed by the applicants and the CEC. Furthermore, the Supreme Court heard the applicants and delivered a reasoned judgment. 88. In sum, the proceedings before the Supreme Court afforded the basic guarantees inherent in Article 13 of the Convention. Russian law provided the applicants with remedial legal mechanism capable of addressing their grievances under Article 3 of Protocol No. 1. The applicants used that remedy, having obtained the final decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 7 February 2005. The present application was lodged with the Court on 1 August 2005, that is, within six months of the date of the final domestic decision. The Court accordingly dismisses the Government’s objections as to the admissibility of the complaints, which it has joined to the merits, and concludes that there has been no breach of Article 13 of the Convention in the present case.