diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 60f6543ff..d8e147b5c 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
     "name": "origintrail_node",
-    "version": "8.0.1+hotfix.8",
+    "version": "8.0.1+hotfix.9",
     "lockfileVersion": 2,
     "requires": true,
     "packages": {
         "": {
             "name": "origintrail_node",
-            "version": "8.0.1+hotfix.8",
+            "version": "8.0.1+hotfix.9",
             "license": "ISC",
             "dependencies": {
                 "@comunica/query-sparql": "^4.0.2",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 74bb1d436..c8de10735 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     "name": "origintrail_node",
-    "version": "8.0.1+hotfix.8",
+    "version": "8.0.1+hotfix.9",
     "description": "OTNode V8",
     "main": "index.js",
     "type": "module",
diff --git a/src/service/validation-service.js b/src/service/validation-service.js
index 2ac58c733..af2e5c8ef 100644
--- a/src/service/validation-service.js
+++ b/src/service/validation-service.js
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ class ValidationService {
         );
 
         if (privateAssertionTriple) {
-            const privateAssertionRoot = privateAssertionTriple.split(' ')[2].slice(1, -1);
+            const privateAssertionRoot = privateAssertionTriple.split(' ')[2].replace(/['"]/g, '');
 
             await this.validateDatasetRoot(privateAssertion, privateAssertionRoot);
         } else {