40 GÄFGEN v. GERMANY JUDGMENT 3. The Court’s assessment 141. The Grand Chamber has jurisdiction to examine the preliminary objection as the Government previously raised that same objection before the Chamber in their observations on the admissibility of the application (see paragraph 84 of the Chamber judgment), in accordance with Rules 54 and 55 of the Rules of Court (see N.C. v. Italy [GC], no. 24952/94, § 44, ECHR 2002-X; Azinas v. Cyprus [GC], no. 56679/00, §§ 32 and 37, ECHR 2004-III; and Sejdovic v. Italy [GC], no. 56581/00, § 41, ECHR 2006-II). 142. The Court reiterates that the purpose of Article 35 is to afford the Contracting States the opportunity of preventing or putting right the violations alleged against them before those allegations are submitted to it (see, inter alia, Civet v. France [GC], no. 29340/95, § 41, ECHR 1999-VI). While Article 35 § 1 of the Convention must be applied with some degree of flexibility and without excessive formalism, it does not require merely that applications should be made to the appropriate domestic courts and that use should be made of effective remedies designed to challenge decisions already given. It normally requires also that the complaints intended to be brought subsequently before the Court should have been made to those same courts, at least in substance and in compliance with the formal requirements and time-limits laid down in domestic law (see, among other authorities, Cardot v. France, 19 March 1991, § 34, Series A no. 200, and Elçi and Others v. Turkey, nos. 23145/93 and 25091/94, §§ 604 and 605, 13 November 2003). 143. Consequently, domestic remedies have not been exhausted when an appeal is not accepted for examination because of a procedural mistake by the applicant. However, non-exhaustion of domestic remedies cannot be held against him if, in spite of his failure to observe the forms prescribed by law, the competent authority has nevertheless examined the substance of the appeal (compare, inter alia, Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia and Others v. Moldova (dec.), no. 45701/99, 7 June 2001; Skałka v. Poland (dec.), no. 43425/98, 3 October 2002; Jalloh v. Germany (dec.), no. 54810/00, 26 October 2004; and Vladimir Romanov, cited above, § 52). 144. The Court observes that the applicant complained before it that his criminal trial had been unfair owing to the admission into trial of items of evidence obtained as a direct result of confessions extracted from him. He raised this issue, specifically, before the Regional Court, in particular in his preliminary application of 9 April 2003 seeking a declaration that the use in the criminal proceedings of all items of evidence which had become known to the investigation authorities because of the statements unlawfully extracted was prohibited (see paragraph 25 above). The Court notes that in his appeal on points of law to the Federal Court of Justice, the applicant referred to that application and submitted a full copy of it to that court (see paragraph 37 above). The Federal Court of Justice itself dismissed his appeal as ill-founded without giving reasons for its decision. In these