First, assuming that refusing to comply with counter-insurgency enforcement would lead to closing down the service: to my knowledge this can only result in machines seized (riseup.net seizure) or fines for the hosting provider (altern.org), not to the service actually closing down and the admins being jailed (unless they are found to be part of a broader criminal conspiracy, which is definitely not the case of Protonmail).

As long as you have backups and you're not rich, all in all there's nothing to be afraid of. Of course litigation is stressful, but nobody's going to physically torture you for that in the Global North.

Second, assuming that refusing to collaborate with authorities will necessarily escalate to hardware seizure and litigation. There's a long way to go for that, and many ways an investigation can be closed (succesfully or not) without sysadmin collaboration.

Third, assuming that going on a political trial to defend activists will necessarily result in being condemned. A political trial, along with a political (not legal) defense can go many ways, and it's very often that refusing to comply with such obvious abuses of power (eg. using Europol to track down anti-gentrification activists) will result in complete acquittal.

Only when you play by the rules of an unfair system, you're sure to loose at every turn.