diff --git a/src/Jackett/Indexers/CardigannIndexer.cs b/src/Jackett/Indexers/CardigannIndexer.cs
index 85c2b768b..0ee0e97f8 100644
--- a/src/Jackett/Indexers/CardigannIndexer.cs
+++ b/src/Jackett/Indexers/CardigannIndexer.cs
@@ -934,7 +934,7 @@ namespace Jackett.Indexers
                 }
             }
             if (queryCollection.Count > 0)
-                searchUrl += "&" + queryCollection.GetQueryString();
+                searchUrl += "&" + queryCollection.GetQueryString(Encoding);
 
             // in case no args are added remove ? again (needed for KAT)
             searchUrl = searchUrl.TrimEnd('?');
diff --git a/src/Jackett/Utils/StringUtil.cs b/src/Jackett/Utils/StringUtil.cs
index 2e6765c3f..0287b5f6a 100644
--- a/src/Jackett/Utils/StringUtil.cs
+++ b/src/Jackett/Utils/StringUtil.cs
@@ -69,9 +69,11 @@ namespace Jackett.Utils
             return String.Join("\n", fields);
         }
 
-        public static string GetQueryString(this NameValueCollection collection)
+        public static string GetQueryString(this NameValueCollection collection, Encoding encoding = null)
         {
-            return string.Join("&", collection.AllKeys.Select(a => a + "=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(collection[a])));
+            if (encoding == null)
+                encoding = Encoding.UTF8;
+            return string.Join("&", collection.AllKeys.Select(a => a + "=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(collection[a], encoding)));
         }
 
         public static string GenerateRandom(int length)