He is accused of committing war crimes in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo a decade ago.
Gen Ntaganda, who denies the charges, surrendered at the US.embassy in Rwanda last March as the Congolese M23 rebel.movement was fracturing.
The hearing will help judges decide if there is enough evidence to try him.
He was once one of the ICC's most
wanted suspects, accused of using child soldiers, keeping women as sex slaves,and murder.
When he appeared in The Hague soon after his surrender, he pleaded not guilty, before the judge interrupted him and said he should not enter a plea at
this stage. Gen Ntaganda has fought for a number of rebel groups as well as the Congolese
army.
He was believed to be one of the leaders of the M23 rebel movement, but the seven counts of war crimes and three counts of crimes against humanity he
faces relate to his involvement with a different rebel group - in the Ituri region of DR Congo, between 2002-2003. He was part of the Union of Congolese Patriots rebel group, led by Thomas
Lubanga who last year became the only person convicted by the ICC.
Eastern DR Congo has suffered from two decades of violence linked to ethnic rivalries and competition for the control
of the area's rich mineral resources,
which has left an estimated five million people dead.
The unrest began when some of the
ethnic Hutu militants accused of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda fled into DR Congo. Some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered.
Like those who have governed Rwanda since the genocide, Gen Ntaganda is an ethnic Tutsi.
Rwanda has consistently denied repeated accusations from the UN that it backed the M23 rebels.
Human rights groups have celebrated Gen Ntaganda's surrender to the court as a victory for international law and the
victims of atrocities in the region.
But some analysts suggested his
surrender was the last resort and his only chance of staying alive after splits within the M23 rebels.
Source. BBC world
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