Protected constructor accessible in sibling-class

Question

I have 1 abstract class: Model<E> with 2 implementations: ItemModel and ItemLogModel. The constructor of ItemLogModel is protected, but it is still accessible from ItemModel. I expect the protected constructor to only be accessible by subclasses of ItemLogModel. Can someone explain to me why this is possible?

Code:

public abstract class Model<E> implements IModel {
    private final Repository<? extends IModel, E> _repository;
    protected E _entity;

    protected Model(Repository<? extends IModel, E> repository, E entity) 
        this._repository = repository;
        this._entity = entity;
    }        
    ...
}

public class ItemModel extends Model<Item> implements IItem {
    ...

    @Override
    public void setStatus(Status status, String logMessage) throws Exception {
        super._entity.setStatus(status.toString());
        super.update();

        // CALLING protected constructor here!
        new ItemLogModel(this, logMessage);
    }
}

public class ItemLogModel extends Model<ItemLog> implements IItemLog {

    protected ItemLogModel(ItemModel itemModel, String message) throws Exception {
        super(REPOSITORY, new ItemLog());
        super._entity.setAccessPointBean(itemModel.getEntity());
        super._entity.setStatus(itemModel.getStatus().toString());
        super._entity.setMessage(message);
        super.save();
    }

}