diff --git a/Objects/unicodeobject.c b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
index 14318f6..dcfde34 100644
--- a/Objects/unicodeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
@@ -276,6 +276,7 @@
 	    return -1;
 	Py_UNICODE_COPY(w->str, v->str,
 			length < v->length ? length : v->length);
+	Py_DECREF(*unicode);
 	*unicode = (PyObject *)w;
 	return 0;
     }