diff --git a/src/desktop/unity-lens-recoll/recollscope/rclsearch.py b/src/desktop/unity-lens-recoll/recollscope/rclsearch.py
index ae4766d2..a7b93864 100755
--- a/src/desktop/unity-lens-recoll/recollscope/rclsearch.py
+++ b/src/desktop/unity-lens-recoll/recollscope/rclsearch.py
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ class Scope (Unity.Scope):
 
         self.last_connect_time = 0
         self.timeout_id = None
+        language, self.localecharset = locale.getdefaultlocale()
 
     def _connect_db(self):
         #print "Connecting to db"
@@ -230,7 +231,7 @@ class Scope (Unity.Scope):
         # Do the recoll thing
         try:
             query = self.db.query()
-            nres = query.execute(search_string)
+            nres = query.execute(search_string.decode(self.localecharset))
         except:
             return
 
diff --git a/src/python/samples/recollq.py b/src/python/samples/recollq.py
index a9d63134..a769ebba 100755
--- a/src/python/samples/recollq.py
+++ b/src/python/samples/recollq.py
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 """A python version of the command line query tool recollq (a bit simplified)
 The input string is always interpreted as a query language string.
 This could actually be useful for something after some customization
 """
 
 import sys
+import locale
 from getopt import getopt
 
 try:
@@ -93,6 +95,7 @@ def doquery(db, q):
 if len(sys.argv) < 2:
     Usage()
 
+language, localecharset = locale.getdefaultlocale()
 confdir=""
 extra_dbs = []
 # Snippet params
@@ -113,9 +116,9 @@ for opt,val in options:
 if len(args) == 0:
     print >> sys.stderr, "No query found in command line"
     Usage()
-q = ""
+q = u''
 for word in args:
-    q += word + " "
+    q += word.decode(localecharset) + u' '
 
 print "QUERY: [", q, "]"
 db = recoll.connect(confdir=confdir,