"I'm in fine spirits. I was waiting for this day," Sanogo said at the opening of the trial, held in a packed concert hall in Sikasso, 370 kilometres southeast of the capital, Bamako.
Sanogo, who faces the death penalty, led the 2012 coup that toppled president Amadou Toumani Toure as the country grappled with a rebellion by Tuareg people that led the way to a jihadist takeover in its vast arid north.
He is on trial for the deaths of troops who a month later in 2012 staged a failed counter-coup. Some 20 bodies were found in December 2013 in a mass grave near Sanogo's headquarters.
Mali regained control of the northern cities from the jihadists after a French-led international military intervention in January 2013, but insurgents remain active across large parts of the region.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content