diff --git a/lib/request/basic.py b/lib/request/basic.py
index 3a4e28299..f612c1fb9 100644
--- a/lib/request/basic.py
+++ b/lib/request/basic.py
@@ -123,7 +123,6 @@ def checkCharEncoding(encoding):
     elif encoding == 'null':
         return None
 
-    encoding = "bla"
     # http://www.iana.org/assignments/character-sets
     try:
         codecs.lookup(encoding)