diff --git a/src/Import/Importer.php b/src/Import/Importer.php
index 91883413c26fb7f431d0728d248e4e7e0477b872..bff42328f2c5931efed79ad68a22c85a8b02b4ad 100644
--- a/src/Import/Importer.php
+++ b/src/Import/Importer.php
@@ -30,20 +30,24 @@ class Importer implements ImporterInterface
 
                 foreach ($files as $file) {
                     if ([] !== $invalidTeiList && !in_array(trim($file['name']), $invalidTeiList)) {
-                        $fileData = file_get_contents(
-                            $this->gitlabProcessedTeiRepoUrl.$file['name'].'?access_token='.$this->gitlabRepoToken.'&ref=master'
-                        );
-                        $fileData = json_decode($fileData, true);
+                        $teiFileUrl = $this->gitlabProcessedTeiRepoUrl.$file['name'].'?access_token='.$this->gitlabRepoToken.'&ref=master';
+                        $fileData = file_get_contents($teiFileUrl);
+                        if (is_string($fileData)) {
+                            $fileData = json_decode($fileData, true);
 
-                        try {
-                            $filesystem->dumpFile($this->teiDir.$file['name'], base64_decode($fileData['content']));
-                        } catch (FileException $exception) {
+                            try {
+                                $filesystem->dumpFile($this->teiDir.$file['name'], base64_decode($fileData['content']));
+                            } catch (FileException $exception) {
+                                echo $file['name'].' could not be imported.';
+                            }
+                        } else {
+                            // TODO retry to download the file again
                             echo $file['name'].' could not be imported.';
                         }
                     }
                 }
             } catch (FileException $exception) {
-                echo 'Files could not be imported from gitlab';
+                echo 'Files list could not be imported from gitlab';
             }
         }
     }