The simultaneous measurement of the charge state evolution and of the energy loss of copper ions travelling through a laser created plasma is reported. The energy of the ions is in the range of 0.7 to 0.8 MeV/amu. The electron plasma temperature is in the range of 1 to 100 eV and its line electron density varies from 1017 to 1019 cm-3. The mean values of the charge state distribution are-significantly increased in comparison with those of cold gases of the same thickness. The recombination processes are shown to be important, owing to the fact that the plasma is not fully ionized