diff --git a/src/sakia/main.py b/src/sakia/main.py
index 82b4293652418e2eeb40a32e6db283f72ff560d9..36eaf101554974a4cbea0d06d89dddb6694f5b93 100755
--- a/src/sakia/main.py
+++ b/src/sakia/main.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import locale
 import asyncio
 import logging
 import signal
@@ -104,6 +105,7 @@ def exception_message(log_lines, exc_info):
 
 def main():
     # activate ctrl-c interrupt
+    locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'C.UTF-8')
     signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, signal.SIG_DFL)
     sakia = QApplication(sys.argv)
 
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index c515342361e8d306c0d4b6a75c0e04844e419304..484755bd8fc253cbfd5e62022b73bdef5d166bcd 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import sqlite3
 import mirage
 import sys
 import os
+import locale
 
 sys.path.append(os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', 'src')))
 
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@ from sakia.services import DocumentsService
 
 _application_ = []
 
+locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'C.UTF-8')
 
 @pytest.yield_fixture
 def event_loop():