It is my opinion that basic "human rights" are fair game to be forfeited when it comes to certain crimes against individuals and/or groups.
As long as no court as said otherwise, all humans, even the worst scum of it, has the same basic human rights. You can voluntarily give up some or all of them, but nobody can force you to it, in a country that embraces the concept of human rights.
I actually think that the pirates of Somalia that are currently in front of a court in Hamburg (Germany) get the most proper and just treatment, that is possible. Of course they would do it differently, they wouldn't ask you for a statement before killing you on-board the ship. But that is not the question. The question is how we want to do that.
Of course they have not just the right, but the obligation to appear in court properly dressed and not in those rugs with which they had been caught. We don't want to talk about their fashion taste, but about their actions.
Of course they have the right to explain their own position and say anything that they think speaks in their favor. We declare the same right for us.
Of course they can't be pushed around and abused for the entertainment of a few self-declared soldiers. They are caught on scene doing a crime, but they are still humans. They are maybe not citizens of this country, but caught on floating German soil. If a soldier has not right mistreating a German, he has also no right mistreating any prisoner. There are things he is permitted to do - and things that are forbidden. They gray areas are for his own judgment and the employment possibilities of lawyers.
Of course it costs a lot of more money compared to simply kill them on the scene and feed their remains to the fishes. But we are having this trial because we don't want this to be done on Germans. Yes, it is complicated. And not emotional or overly personal. It is a government action.
Maybe a few years in German prison will be like paradise to them. Maybe not. At least one of them became pirate for supporting his young family. But that is no German problem yet. :facepalm: