diff --git a/tools/conlluAddMissingColumns.py b/tools/conlluAddMissingColumns.py
index 7e902c4dbe170ff1ad49784a6e3d94b0fcf22a6d..0104b4c52d5218b1a9043fb05eada4aae12cb5b3 100755
--- a/tools/conlluAddMissingColumns.py
+++ b/tools/conlluAddMissingColumns.py
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 #! /usr/bin/python3
 
 import sys
+import codecs
+sys.stdout = codecs.getwriter('utf8')(sys.stdout)
+sys.stderr = codecs.getwriter('utf8')(sys.stderr)
 
 def printUsageAndExit() :
   print("USAGE : %s file.conllu mcd"%sys.argv[0], file=sys.stderr)