Police say there is little that can be done against a man who made a Nazi salute while urinating on a memorial in a former concentration camp.

Photos of Zdenek Appl, 24, urinating next to the Star of David at the Theresienstad concentration, were handed to Czech police by a disgusted former friend.

But the force investigated have admitted it may be difficult to take legal action against Appl, as promoting Nazi ideology is not illegal in the Czech Republic like it is in neighbouring Germany or Austria.

Disgusting: Zdenek Appl was said to be drunk when he was photographed urinating on a memorial in a concentration camp in the Czech Republic. He has since denied being a Nazi to Czech media

The pictures were taken when Appl was visiting the former camp, situated in the north of the Czech Republic close to the German border with Jiri Larva, 25.

Jiri said he decided to hand the evidence over to the police after he was appalled by his former friend's action, who was allegedly drunk at the time.

'I knew that he had some questionable ideas but when he started urinating alongside star David and then stood on the wall making a Nazi salute I just felt it was going too far, as I handed the photos in to the police', he said.

'I haven't had anything to do with him since but I reckon he should be punished for what he was up to.'

Czech media has reported that Appl has a Nazi tattoo on his arm with the words 'Arbeit macht frel' - meaning 'work makes you free', the same chilling saying that was put above the entrance to Auschwitz and other concentration camps.

They also state that Appl runs a Facebook page full of arguments promoting Nazi ideology - he but later denied he believed in the far-right views.

Salute: Appl's former friend Jiri Lava handed the photographs to police. saying he thought he had gone 'too far'. The pair were visiting the Theresienstadt monument in the north of the Czech Republic, the site where thousands of people died at the hands of SS offices

After speaking with the media by telephone, Appl added that he is not a Naxi and said his tattoo had been removed since the pictures were taken.

Thousands of people died at the hands of the SS officers and from malnutrition while being held at the Theresienstad concentration camp, which was open between November 1941 and May 1945.

As well as being a labour site for German, Austrian and Czech Jews, it served as a 'holding pen' for Czech Jews before they were sent to other concentration camps to be killed.

More than 150,000 people, including tens of thousands of children, were held in the camp for either months or years before being sent to their deaths at Treblinka and Auschwitz.

The manager of the Theresienstadt monument and head of Prague Jewish Community Jan Munk said he found the images despicable.

He said: 'It is disgusting. We are reporting it to police as well and we will see.