> We use DriverManager.getConnection('our connection string', props),
> where props contains:
> props.put("user", aUsername);
> props.put("password", aPassword);
> props.put("encoding", "UNICODE_FSS");
> props.put("charSet", "UTF8");

Either remove the last line or use

props.put("charSet", "UTF-8");

>> select (case when status=1 then _UNICODE_FSS 'Yes' else _UNICODE_FSS
>> 'No' end) as FlagStr from mytable
>
> Unfortunately that did not work...

Same result or an error?

Roman