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Bitar, the 46-year-old head of Beirut’s criminal court, will be the second judge to investigate the explosion caused by some 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate haphazardly stored in a port warehouse by authorities for over six years.

The Court of Cassation removed Judge Fadi Sawwan from the probe on Thursday after two former ministers he had charged with criminal negligence requested that the case be transferred to a new judge. The decision led to an outcry, particularly by victims’ families, who feared that Sawwan’s removal would take the case back to square one.

Many had expected a long delay before a replacement would be appointed, but Bitar was named to the powerful but politically precarious role of judicial investigator by Lebanon’s Higher Judicial Council on Friday after his name was put forward by caretaker Justice Minister Marie Claude Najm. Bitar accepted the post, despite having refused it months ago, before Sawwan was appointed.