It's not in the "name" of anything. That is, it's not a principled stand. He is claiming that people's prejudices and biases will cause them to overlook it.

No. What I think everyone is saying is that we find it surprising that the thief recording a video and putting it on the victims computer (essentially giving it to him) would have any rights to sue for at all in Germany or anywhere else for that matter.

The fact that the thief knows that the computer is stolen property and is not rightfully his makes a big difference. For example, if he bought the computer for $250 he might be suspicious that it was stolen (otherwise why such a good deal?), but it is theoretically possible in that situation to give him the benefit of the doubt. Of course, that's not the case here.