utf-8 in sqlMap

Hi!
I have a problem. I write in UTF-8 characters. The characters are being passed fine to the action (i can see in the debug) when i execute a query to ibatis i get the following debugging messages:
DEBUG [http-8080-Processor25] - Created connection 15270039.
DEBUG [http-8080-Processor25] - {conn-100000} Connection
DEBUG [http-8080-Processor25] - {pstm-100001} PreparedStatement:      SELECT      ID,USERS.NAME,PASSWORD,ROLE     FROM USERS     WHERE USERS.NAME = ?       AND PASSWORD = ?  
DEBUG [http-8080-Processor25] - {pstm-100001} Parameters: [????, ????]
DEBUG [http-8080-Processor25] - {pstm-100001} Types: [java.lang.String, java.lang.String]
DEBUG [http-8080-Processor25] - {rset-100002} ResultSet
DEBUG [http-8080-Processor25] - Returned connection 15270039 to pool.

I looked in the mailing list, and found out that i have to add ?characterEncoding=utf8 to the database url.
i added it but it doesn't work.
What could be the solution?