<form id="contForm" method="post" name="formCont"
    action="/wps/customforms/ParticipationRequest"
    enctype="multipart/form-data">

<div class="spec textarea small" id="inpSpec">
    <label class="label" for="inp"><%=content.getLangMap().get(langcode)%>
        <span class="required">*</span> <span class="hint"></span> </label>
    <div class="value">
        <div class="control">
            <textarea cols="5" rows="3"
                id="<%=String.valueOf(content.getId())%>"
                name="<%=String.valueOf(content.getId())%>"></textarea>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

List<FileItem> items = new ServletFileUpload(new DiskFileItemFactory()).parseRequest(request);
String description = null;
for (FileItem item : items) {
        if (item.isFormField()) {
                if (item.getFieldName().equalsIgnoreCase(String.valueOf(content.getId()))) {

                        // Here I get invalid data for french characters.
                        description =  item.getString());
                    }
        }
}