A Croatian court has ruled that same-sex partners can now adopt children, backing a gay couple in their five-year fight for the right to family life, the government said on Thursday. Zagreb’s Administrative Court ruled on April 21 that same-sex couples should not face discrimination in state adoption, the Rainbow Families Association (RFA), an LGBT+ group, said on its website, alongside a redacted copy of the judgment. The head of the RFA, which funded the case, voiced excitement at this latest win for minority rights in the small Balkan state. “I feel really relieved that this odyssey, that lasted so many years, has finally hit (its) conclusion,” Daniel Martinovic told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. He said the couple – Mladen Kozic and Ivo Segota – had only gone public with their victory after consulting the social worker of the two boys they look after, the first children to be fostered by a same-sex couple in Croatia. The government has 15 days from receiving the judgment to appeal – but emailed a statement saying it would not comment on the ruling “until it becomes non-appealable and final”.