I haven’t been put in that position yet but I hope that if I do I could stick up for my rights, but, as you said, they can be intimidating. Makes you wonder what is worth dying over, especially when the cops report that you were obstructing justice or some other crap.
Sometimes the charges really are fishing expeditions, in the feeble hope that a court might find some reason to inquire into what the person in question was doing. Morals are going to hell in general and this is one facet of it.