The Tokyo District Court ordered a publisher and a writer Friday to pay 1.35 million yen in damages to a key aide to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi over a magazine article that claimed he is effectively subordinating Koizumi.

Presiding Judge Ryosuke Yasunami, however, dismissed a demand by the plaintiff, Isao Iijima, that Kodansha Ltd. post an apology in its weekly magazine Shukan Gendai for defamation.

The magazine carried an article in its Jan. 22 edition titled "Prime Minister Koizumi and secretary Iijima: 'servant' switches position with 'master.' "

"The article gave readers the impression that the secretary is someone who speaks and acts inappropriately. This damaged his social reputation," Yasunami said.

The judge cited a passage that read: "the secretary deviated from his duty, treated the prime minister like his subordinate and was telling him what to do."

Kodansha in a statement called the ruling "outrageous" and one that "does not allow for comment or criticism of a person who holds the important position of secretary of the prime minister. We absolutely cannot accept it."

Iijima had demanded Kodansha and the unnamed writer pay 10 million yen in compensation and the publisher post an apology.

He had also filed another libel suit against the publisher over an article of similar tone that branded him a "shadow prime minister," but his claims were rejected by the district court in October.