diff --git a/scm-plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/resources/sonia/scm/hgbrowse.py b/scm-plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/resources/sonia/scm/hgbrowse.py
index ccbeb0c86f..e8f46b0b30 100644
--- a/scm-plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/resources/sonia/scm/hgbrowse.py
+++ b/scm-plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/resources/sonia/scm/hgbrowse.py
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ for file in files:
   print '      <directory>false</directory>'
   print '      <length>' + str(file.size()) + '</length>'
   print '      <lastModified>' + str(time).split('.')[0] + '</lastModified>'
-  print '      <description>' + desc + '</description>'
+  print '      <description>' + escape(desc.encode('UTF-8')) + '</description>'
   print '    </file>'
 print '  </files>'
 print '</browser-result>'
diff --git a/scm-plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/resources/sonia/scm/hglog.py b/scm-plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/resources/sonia/scm/hglog.py
index a722ab18f8..3c5a87921e 100644
--- a/scm-plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/resources/sonia/scm/hglog.py
+++ b/scm-plugins/scm-hg-plugin/src/main/resources/sonia/scm/hglog.py
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ def printChangeset(repo, ctx):
     for parent in parents:
       print '      <parents>' + str(parent.rev()) + ':' + hex(parent.node()[:6]) + '</parents>'
   print '      <author>' + escape(ctx.user()) + '</author>'
-  print '      <description>' + escape(ctx.description()) + '</description>'
+  print '      <description>' + escape(ctx.description().encode('UTF-8')) + '</description>'
   print '      <date>' + str(time).split('.')[0] + '</date>'
 
   # author