Pavli, born in the town of Vlora, the country’s third largest city, was one of three candidates nominated by Albania. Out of the three Albanian candidates, Pavli and Sokol Berberi have both held leading positions in the Albanina organisations of the Open Society Foundation.
Over the past 25 years, Soros has invested US$130 million in Albania and his foundation has several offices there. He also finances the Albanian offices of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Soros already has significant influence in the ECtHR. In 2007, Hungary nominated András Sajó, one of the founders of Soros’s Central European University made it to the same court. The judge from Bulgaria, Jonko Grozev has previously been an employee of the Soros-funded European Rights Centre and a member of the supervisory board of the Open Society Institute in Sofia, Bulgaria.
This was Albania’s third attempt since 2016 to nominate an eligible candidate to the court. According to news reports the nomination process has been controversial as the Albanian government claimed to have vetted all three candidates, even though none of them actually passed the vetting procedure.
Pavli has a BA in law from the University of Tirana and a double masters from the Central European University and the New York University. While he has extensive experience as a litigator, he has no experience as a judge.
