diff --git a/src/remote.c b/src/remote.c
index c5cfb04..bf8a7a8 100644
--- a/src/remote.c
+++ b/src/remote.c
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ PyObject * get_pylist_from_git_strarray(git_strarray *strarray)
         PyList_SET_ITEM(
                        new_list,
                        index,
-                       PyString_FromString(strarray->strings[index]));
+                       to_unicode(strarray->strings[index], NULL, NULL));
     }
     return new_list;
 }