changing encoding for helma.File

Hello List!

I am reading textfiles with readln() from helma.File().
The Problem is, that the textfiles are in utf8. I tried to change the 
encoding in app.properties with
charset = UTF-8 (and charset = UTF8, i am never sure wich one it is)

But no mather what i tried, the words look like scrambled eggs.
In helma.File() i found out, that javas FileReader() is used to read the 
file, which uses the default encoding. There is no chance to change the 
encoding.

How can i read utf8-files?


thanks in advance,
Anton