The first former head of state to be tried at the ICC, he pleaded not guilty to charges relating to violence after the West African country's 2010 presidential elections, which he lost.
Ex-Ivory Coast President, Laurent Gbagbo, has appeared at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, charged over crimes against humanity.
He and a former youth minister, Charles Ble Goude, are accused of involvement in atrocities after the 2010 presidential elections in Ivory Coast, that left 3,000 people dead.
As the trial opened, both men pleaded not guilty to four charges of war crimes including murder, rape and persecution.
Prosecutors accuse Mr Gbagbo of plotting to cling to power at all costs, after being defeated in the November 2010 democratic election.
ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has told the court Mr Gbagbo unleashed a wave of deadly violence targeting political opponents and civilian protesters.
"Nothing would be allowed to defeat Mr. Gbagbo. If politics failed, violence was seen as politics by other means. In claiming himself president of Cote d'Ivoire, Mr. Gbagbo used the Ivorian defence and security forces, the FDS, to attack civilians. He used mercenaries to attack civilians. He used youth groups and militia, galvanised by the co-accused Mr. Ble Goude's hateful rhetoric, to attack civilians."
Ms Bensouda says Charles Ble Goude was a key accomplice of Mr Gbagbo.
"Mr. Ble Goude was Mr. Gbagbo's mouthpiece, his spin doctor. He took pride in his ability to spin Mr. Gbagbo's messages to mobilise the masses."
Human rights activists have welcomed the trial as a clear signal that leaders who resort to violence to strengthen their grip on power will be held to account.
But they also cautioned that crimes allegedly committed by supporters of the Ivory Coast's current President, Alassane Ouattara, must also be prosecuted.
Willy Alexandre Neth is from an Ivory Coast charity.
"Crimes were committed on both sides, and there are victims who are both close to Gbagbo and close to Ouattara. Now that we know that there will be investigation into both sides, that is reassuring to us that nobody will escape justice."
Despite the charges, Mr Gbagbo remains popular among some Ivorians.
Dozens of people massed outside the court ahead of the trial to show their support for Mr Gbagbo.
"We are here for the trial of President Laurent Gbagbo, who are a victim of a coup from France and today is his trial, so they transferred him to the ICC and we are here to support him."
A former university professor who founded an opposition party well before Ivory Coast embraced multi-party democracy, Mr Gbagbo spent much of the 1980s in exile in France.
After returning to Ivory Coast, he lost the 1990 presidential vote and spent six months in jail in 1992 for his role in student protests.
He came to power in 2000 in a flawed vote he himself described as "calamitous," although he put off holding another one for a decade.
In the 2010 race, Mr Gbagbo placed first in the first round with 38 per cent of the vote before losing to Alassane Ouattara in the run-off.
The ICC trial of Mr Gbagbo is expected to last for months.
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